USAID/OTI Liberia Success Story
March 2007
Using Radio and Theater for Economic Reform
USAID/OTI's BRDG-Liberia program was initiated in September 2006 to support the political transition prompted by the free and fair election of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa.
The Building Recovery and Reform through Democratic Governance (BRDG) program assists the Government of Liberia and other key actors to further the following political objectives:
- Improving capacity in such areas as planning, budgeting, communication, and coordination with relevant counterparts
- Mounting effective responses to high-visibility issues
- Strengthening the Mano River Union by supporting cooperative regional activities
The USAID Mission in Liberia, USAID's Africa Bureau, and the Office of Democracy and Governance are key players in the coordination of the BRDG program.
 |
| House of Freedom's drama troupe performs the GEMAP drama for a crowd in Monrovia. |
In response to the mismanagement of public resources during Liberia's post-conflict transition, the Government of Liberia and the international community initiated the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) at the end of 2005. GEMAP is a mechanism to help Liberia improve governance, enhance transparency and accountability, and lay a solid foundation for sustainable peace. Through the GEMAP framework, Liberian institutions and international partners are putting systems in place to ensure that royalties from natural resources and funding from other sources flow to the Government and are used for the reconstruction of the country.
During its first year, GEMAP has helped Liberia make improvements in the areas of financial management and accountability, budgeting and expenditure management, procurement and concessions practices, corruption control, capacity development, and donor coordination. Of particular note, GEMAP-instituted tax administration reforms have increased government revenues by 52 percent. Despite these accomplishments, however, Liberians lack understanding of the GEMAP partnership. Many Liberians do not know what GEMAP is or are unfamiliar with what it seeks to do; others see GEMAP as a violation of Liberia's sovereignty. To complement the World Bank's GEMAP awareness campaign, BRDG-Liberia partnered with House of Freedom (a radio and video production house) and Star Radio (one of the country's leading independent radio stations) to amplify the message about the successful first year of the GEMAP process.
Star Radio translated GEMAP's first annual report into all 16 Liberian dialects and aired the pieces, along with an interview with the Minister of Finance, on 25 radio stations, including 19 community stations in some of Liberia's most remote areas. At the same time, House of Freedom innovatively transformed the report into a drama and performed 31 live performances in all 15 of Liberia's counties. The campaign exposed many Liberians to the new system of financial accountability and was an important step toward engaging Liberians in discussions about the Government's progress with the GEMAP process as it continues in 2007.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington: John Gattorn, Program Manager, 202-712-4899, jgattorn@usaid.gov
|
