Liberia’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector faces chronic structural problems, which have become more challenging since it was not the primary focus of the post-conflict emergency response by development partners.
... See More + The wartime destruction of infrastructure and the urgency behind rebuilding post conflict, led donors as well as Liberia’s own Ministry of Finance to directly fund reconstruction and development through non-state actors (such as NGOs, CSOs and development partners) rather than state institutions (World Bank, 2015). Consequently, this has weakened the institutional capacity of the sector to absorb finance and turn it into productive services, thus further inhibiting investment. This was further aggravated by the Liberian government’s immediate post war challenges, which were given greater priority such as roads and electricity. Other sectors, such as health, were funded through the country’s national budget, which became a point of leverage to influence institutional capacity. The WASH sector however, was left in the hands of non-state entities. WASH financing and activities are not fully coordinated within line ministries at the national and county level and sometimes between line ministries and county officials, as well as within development partners, and between development partners and government. This is mainly due to the disjointed nature of WASH-related activities, and lack of WASH champion at the national level that can play a strong coordination role.
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Citizen centric services of solid waste management in Monrovia need improved communications with greater transparency and accountability, Even though waste management is a stated government priority, the subsector depends primarily on donor financing and on fees paid by citizens.
... See More + Citizens trust in service providers however is largely broken and need to be addressed to rebuild the social contract of paying for solid waste collection. The operational capacity of Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) to ensure accountability need to be strengthened, the MCC is currently a service provider but has extremely limited resources to effectively undertake this function. The service delivery model of engaging Community Based Enterprises (CBEs) for primary waste collection needs to be revisited – the formalization of CBEs has led to additional new challenges in the service delivery model, which requires rethinking the role of value-added services, adapting zoning laws to generate competition among CBEs and a more results-based model of financing.
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Liberia’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector faces chronic structural problems, which originate in the post war emergency response by multilateral organizations.
... See More + Institutions and infrastructure in Liberia were destroyed by its fourteen year long civil war, which ended in 2003. The urgency behind post war reconstruction led donors as well as Liberia’s Ministry of Finance to directly fund the WASH sector’s reconstruction and development through non-state actors rather than state institutions (World Bank, 2015). These non-state entities, which mainly provided emergency relief, lacked the ability to provide services equitably and sustainably across the country, predominantly in remote rural areas. Ineffective government institutions remained on the sidelines (World Bank, 2015). Consequently, for many years after the war, the WASH sector became fragmented across several ministries with no centralized authority. As a result, large sections of the Liberian population remain exposed to unsafe water and sanitary conditions, particularly in rural areas.
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The Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD) recognized the need for improving WASH conditions in the country. The PAPD is a Government of Liberia (GoL)’s medium-term development strategy covering 2018-2023 towards Liberia Rising 2030 accelerating growth and reducing poverty to achieve its vision of middle-income status by 2030.
... See More + The PAPD recognized that the lack of financing for infrastructure investments as one of the key constraints, and it has hindered the improvement in water supply, waste disposal, garbage disposal and drainage. Other constraints included limited human resource, institutional fragmentation, weak legal and regulatory framework, inadequate water distribution infrastructure due to lack of funding, and inadequate sanitation services. The sector lacks trained manpower, has inadequate data (on access to services), difficulties with planning, and communities’ resistance for change in their water and hygiene practices. The PAPD addressed the critical need for WASH improvements by indicating that ‘the Government aims to have equitable, safe, affordable and sustainable water supply and sanitation services for all Liberians’, and also committed that ‘the Government will mobilize resources for water supply infrastructure, provide rural water supply, facilitate supply and financing for water resources management mobilize communities to fully participate in planning, operation and maintenance of WASH facilities, and eliminate open defecation nationwide while enforcing minimum standard WASH packages.’
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The 2014-15 Ebola epidemic took a devastating human and economic toll on three West African countries, of which Liberia was perhaps the hardest hit.
... See More + The pathways through which the crisis affected economic activity in these largely agrarian societies remain poorly understood. To study these mechanisms in the context of rural Liberia, this paper links a geographically disaggregated indicator of Ebola disease mortality to nationally representative household survey data on agricultural production and consumption. The paper finds that higher Ebola prevalence (as proxied by local mortality) led to greater disruption of group labor mobilization for planting and harvest, thereby reducing rice area planted as well as rice yields. Household welfare, measured by per capita expenditures spanning two points before and after the crisis, fell by more in Ebola prevalent areas with more intensive rice farming, precisely those areas that were more adversely affected by agricultural labor shortages.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8880 JUN 11, 2019
De La Fuente,Alejandro; Jacoby,Hanan G.; Lawin,Kotchikpa GabrielDisclosed
The new government elected in April 2018 inherited a declining economy with slower economic growth in both iron-ore and non-iron-ore sectors, growing twin deficits (domestic fiscal and external current account), accelerating inflation fueled by depreciating exchange rate and the buildup of government arrears, and weaker performance of SOE’s.
... See More + Given the delays and the size of slippages, the 2017 ECF program was faced with a growing risk of going off-track. In the circumstances, the new government opted to cancel the ongoing IMF program and demonstrate its strong commitment to realistic improvements in macroeconomic performance defined under a new ECF concluded in November 2018. The brunt of the underlying Fiscal Adjustment Framework is anchored in an ambitious revenue mobilization effort expected to support continued strong capital (infrastructure) and social spending needs and yet allow the deficit reduction needed to stabilize and reduce public debt even in the event of unforeseen external and domestic shocks. Fiscal Adjustment Framework provides a sustainable mapping of government policy objectives into the foundation for macroeconomic stability and economic growth. Country’s large (domestic and external) public debt burden is the main constraint in this process. The recent fiscal slippages and weaker output growth have added to this challenge. Sierra Leone is now classified as being at ‘high risk’ of debt distress.
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Following general elections in Liberia in 2017, a new government was formed with a mandate to achieve ambitious development objectives. Following a nationwide consultative process, the new medium-term national development plan, Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD)-2019-2023 was developed focusing on: strengthening public institutions; accelerating infrastructure investments for productive capacity; improving productivity in the real sector through enhanced economic diversification; increasing investment in human capital (youth employment, health, and education); and improving competitiveness, while safeguarding macroeconomic and debt sustainability.
... See More + The focus of fiscal policy should be twofold, raising revenues while sustaining deficit at financeable level. In such a tight fiscal situation, the imperative is to secure equal or improved quality of public services by prioritizing and improving the composition of expenditure, enhancing efficiency, and expanding the resource envelope by stepping up the revenue mobilization efforts. Sustaining pro-poor development agenda, will likely require a political resolve to reduce the share of government resources devoted to high paid public servants and discretionary expenditures, as well as improve the efficiency and transparency of government spending. Otherwise, the financing gap created by an announced decline in grants and other forms of external assistance may be difficult to close.
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The 2014–15 Ebola epidemic took a devastating human and economic toll on three West African countries, of which Liberia was perhaps the hardest hit.
... See More + The pathways through which the crisis affected economic activity in these largely agrarian societies remain poorly understood. To study these mechanisms in the context of rural Liberia, this paper links a geographically disaggregated indicator of Ebola disease mortality to nationally representative household survey data on agricultural production and consumption. The paper finds that higher Ebola prevalence (as proxied by local mortality) led to greater disruption of group labor mobilization for planting and harvest, thereby reducing rice area planted as well as rice yields. Household welfare, measured by per capita expenditures spanning two points before and after the crisis, fell by more in Ebola prevalent areas with more intensive rice farming, precisely those areas that were more adversely affected by agricultural labor shortages.
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Working Paper (Numbered Series) 137734 JUN 01, 2019
De La Fuente,Alejandro; Jacoby,Hanan G.; Lawin,Kotchikpa GabrielDisclosed
