mechanisms. Cancelation of Liberia’s debt burden, which was attained in 2010, was a crucial step in boosting the country’s development efforts and normalizing aid flows. In the past year or two, most development partners have faced the task of transitioning from support for emergency reconstruction to support for sustained development. This is a significant challenge for the World Bank Group, coming at a time when the dynamism which characterized its emergency support is widely perceived to be abating. Major staffing changes at the regional and country levels, along with the 2011 political campaigns in Liberia, have contributed to a slowdown in the program. Of particular concern are a hiatus in the largest transport project (the road from Monrovia to the Guinean border) and the absence of prompt corrective action. Although the evaluation is in broad agreement with the approach of the Liberia program, two issues merit greater attention. One is the stewardship of natural resources, including the need to systematically enhance the quality of governance across the value chain of resources— with the overarching
goal of sharing the benefits among all Liberians. The second issue is the need to create job opportunities, especially among youth who also need skills development, to address the pervasive unemployment or underemployment problem. The new program cycle of the World Bank Group to be set out in the next country strategy for Liberia presents an opportunity to strengthen the relevance and effectiveness of its assistance. First, the World Bank Group could help deepen Liberia’s achievements under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) by supporting the establishment of institutional arrangements to ensure that resource revenues are used for the benefit of all. Second, it could help develop a new growth strategy that is truly pro-poor; that is, one that focuses on job creation among the targeted beneficiaries in its interventions and that upgrades the investment climate for businesses. Finally, the World Bank Group could speed up implementation of its program by finding pragmatic ways around the many obstacles, such as procurement practices and competition for management attention.
Introduction and Context Liberia was founded in 1821 by former American slaves. Until recently, their descendants, a small minority of the population, controlled most of the political and economic power. This social imbalance was a source of friction, particularly given the country’s rich natural resources, with an abundance of iron ore, timber, diamonds, gold and rubber.
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Liberia Country Program Evaluation: 2004–2011