Liberia’s OGP Secretariat Gets World Bank’s Blessing

-Receives Multi Donor Trust Fund To Develop 4^th National Actions Plan

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) Secretariat in Liberia has received initial fund from the World Bank through the Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) toward the development of the 4^th National Action Plans (NAP).

The MDTF was established in 2017 by the World Bank for OGP countries that are complying in line with the OGP. The MDTF is a huge fund, but the initial amount is US$60,000.00.  This amount is gear toward the development of the NAP, consultations to validation for a timeframe of two months.

Addressing reporters upon his return to the country, the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the OGP, Deputy Information Minister for Administration, Atty. Daniel C. Gayedyu, Jr. said they will engage the relevant government ministries and agencies on plans that will improve the country.

Recently Liberia was selected along with five countries out of over seventy-five countries for training in Dubai. The gathering was basically about OGP Multi Donor Trust Fund peer exchange training among recipient countries of the fund.

Minister Gayedyu added “Liberia was fortunate to have been selected over seventy-five countries. Liberia was one of the five countries that were selected to benefit from the fund.  We have been selected and we will be funded to support the development of the National Action Plans of the OGP in Liberia.

“The World Bank wants all stakeholders to experience the value for money for transparency and be impactful gear toward programs and commitments, transforms the lives of the people and change some of the ways governance works. They want improvement in governance consistent with the thematic areas of OGP. This means openness, transparency, accountability, ant-corruption, and citizens’ engagement, and citizens’ participation, responsiveness to its citizens, and improvement in technology,” Minister Gayedyu added.

For his part, the Head of the OGP Secretariat, G. Ralph Jimmeh, Jr said the fund is being managed by Accountability Lab that is also a part of the OGP.

Mr. Jimmeh, Jr. said the gathering in Dubai was also gear toward the exchange of ideas and experiences as OGP countries. The participating countries include Burkina Faso, Philippines, Costa Rica, Pakistan, Liberia and Colombia.

“Liberia is one of the countries that is being seriously considered by the Open Government Partnership to support the country’s initiative in ensuring that transparency and accountability is something that can permeate the governance system of the country. As a country, we need to show prove and evidence of our interest of our honesty in ensuring that these things happen because at the level of the World Bank, OGP, Liberia is considered as a critical country, country of serious interest because they want our governance process becomes transparent and accountable,” Mr. Jimmeh, Jr., said.