Description

The Government of Liberia has embarked on a historical process to bring itself closer to the people. The decentralization process has been viewed by some as “revolutionary” as it entails a transformative change in the way the country is governed and in the way decisions are made and resources are managed. The primary goal of this decentralization is to strengthen local self-governance, expand local participation in the affairs of the government and provide equal opportunity for all citizens of Liberia to participate and have a stake in the development process in order to accelerate the pace of improvement in the quality of life of all Liberians.1  
A number of important steps have been taken to pave the way towards establishing a system of participatory local governance. A key driver of the decentralization reform process has been the Liberian National Vision 2030 which envisages that in 17 years, decentralized democracy will be on a solid foundation. Launched by the President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, on January 5, 2012 in Salala District, the National Policy on Decentralization and Local Governance has been the cornerstone of the decentralization reform process and reflects the government’s commitment to bring itself closer to the people through a decentralized, gender-sensitive, participatory and accountable system of local governance. The Policy provides for the creation of local government structures in each of the 15 counties and sets out processes to enable effective devolution of power (political decentralization), responsibilities (administrative decentralization) and resources (fiscal decentralization) to the counties.