Liberia

The global objective of this study was to enhance the understanding of the reported recent attempts to radicalise and recruit individuals (including, but not limited to, dynamics of recruitment, motivations, target groups and threat posed) in the countries covered by the scope of the study, and of the threats they pose. To achieve this, the study looked into the interrelated relevant phenomena (including grievances, political dynamics and foreign religious influences). The final aim was to contribute to the development of potential EU support to address these challenges and build resilience and social cohesion.

The specific objectives of the project were:

• To investigate the dynamics of the reported growth of radicalisation and recruitment efforts in Liberia and in Guinea- Conakry (possibly linked to the expansion of Wahhabism/Salafism in the region).
• To assess the threat posed by such potential expansion and its interrelations with relevant national and regional causes of fragility.
• To assess the gaps, needs and interest for a possible EU intervention, complementing existing efforts. This assessment should consider opportunities, challenges and risks of such an intervention.

The overall objective of the contract was to enhance the EU's image as a strong partner for Liberia. The specific objectives were:

• Enhancing visibility and local understanding of the EU-Liberia partnership by enabling youth to report on EU-funded initiatives under the 11th EDF and thematic budget lines
• Enhancing sector-level understanding and awareness of the advantages and benefits of the support given by the EU to Liberia for the sectors linked to this contract.

There were five thematic areas, as the contract was funded through 5 separate decisions, namely the EU-Liberia Agriculture Programme, EU State Building Contract with Liberia, Youth Rising- EU support to Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Liberia, Civil Society Initiative and Support to the VP A/FLEGT process in Liberia.

The main objectives of this evaluation were to provide the relevant services of the European Union, the interested stakeholders with:

• an overall independent assessment of the EU contribution to the Liberian Decentralisation Support Programme, paying particular attention to its results measured against its expected objectives; and the reasons underpinning such results;
• key lessons learned, conclusions and related recommendations in order to improve future EU Actions.

In particular, this evaluation served to understand the performance of the Action, to understand the performance of the Action as to inform the planning of eventual future EU interventions and Actions in the same sector.

EU added value:

• The extent to which the Action brought additional benefits to what would have resulted from Member States' interventions only.
• Coherence of the Action itself. With the EU strategy in Liberia and with other EU policies and Member State Actions as other relevant DPs (UN agencies and Usaid):
• The extent to which was the action complementary to other intervention in the Country.

Relevance:

• Appropriateness of the action approach via LDSP programme for the achievements of National Policy on Decentralization and Local Governance (NPDLG).
• The extent to which the action has been designed in line with the readiness and capacity of LDSP Programme stakeholders.

Effectiveness:

• The extent to which the deconcentration of services at local level (CSCs) have been improved.
• The extent to which programme modalities were effective for the implementation of the Program (DPs pool fund managed by UN Agency, NIM/DIM),

Efficiency:

• The extent to which was the action's implementation choice (DPs pool fund managed by UN Agency, NlM/DlM) efficient;

Sustainability:

• The extent to which mechanisms have been set in place by the action to support the Government of Liberia to sustain improvements in deconcentrated services (CSCs) made through this action;

Impact:

• The extent to which it was possible to describe the impact of the action in term of positive or negative; directly or indirectly.

The project aimed at supporting the Liberian Ministry of Transport in becoming the lead policy making entity for an efficient and sustainable development of the whole transport sector.

This means that the Ministry should be enabled to formulate and implement relevant laws and regulations concerning road transport. Furthermore, the MoT should be enabled to fulfil a steering function within the sector and monitor progress. The focus was the overall organizational and technical development of the MoT in order to create an organization with functioning roles and processes to fulfil its mandate.

The support measure was embedded in a larger GIZ-funded project with the overall objective: “The responsible public institutions and Liberia’s private sector were implementing reforms in accordance with the National Transport Master Plan, including road maintenance measures aimed at creating employment opportunities.”

The following milestones were developed:

• Overall work plan and timeframe for the assignment during the Inception Phase;
• Capacity and organizational assessment within MoT to identify current strengths and weaknesses of the organization and define existing capacity gaps;
• Reform strategy according to the amended law to define the next steps and interventions;
• Human Resources Capacity Plan (HCD Plan) to develop concrete support measures in order to close the capacity gaps;
• HCD and organizational development measures to accompany MoT staff during the reform and restructuring process.

The global objective of the assignment is to support the Government of Liberia in implementing its Intended National Determined Contributions (INDC) by operationalising the EU-Liberia Climate Change Alliance.

Specific objectives of this consultancy are:

• Recommend options to implement Component 1 of the EU-Liberia Climate Change Alliance – better solid waste management (through recycling and composting) – on the basis of a sound analysis of the solid waste management sector in greater Monrovia
• Recommend options to implement Component 2 of the EU-Liberia Climate Change Alliance – capacity building – on the basis of an in depth gap analysis of the institutions involved in the implementation of the INDC

The global objective of the assignment was to improve visibility and understanding of the EU in Liberia, and in particular of the activities financed from the 11th European Development Fund.

The specific objective of this contract was to support the staff of the EU Delegation in Liberia in the conception, design and implementation of a targeted communication strategy. The implementation of activities included the planning and implementation of several events in Monrovia, the production of a cultural book, and the production of visibility and promotional items.

The GIZ spported the Liberian transport sector since 2008 through the project “Capacity Development in the Transport Sector.”

Particwas invited to facilitate a strategy workshop for the project. The objective of the workshop is to streamline project implementation and to develop an idea for the subsequent phase of the project.

In additiot the strategy workshop was complemented with team-building activities, as new team leaders have recently joined the team.

This assignment provided a coherent proposal to ECOWAS and EU for the strengthening of coordination and cooperation in security in West Africa and the implementation of programmes dealing with specific threats.

It gave sufficient background information and justifications to enable the ECOWAS and EU to make an informed decision on specific objectives and of the projects' implementation modalities.

The specific objective of this assignment was to prepare all the necessary elements of 4 different Action Documents to implement 4 potential projects covering respectively areas A, B, C and D.(Area A: Border Management, Area B: Enhancing Cybersecurity in ECOWAS region, Area C: Support to GIABA, Area D: Fighting against illicit trafficking).

For each area A,B,C and D, it was required to proceed to:

• an identification of issues, strategical orientations and priority intervention areas
• a formulation of the project under 11th EDF (Phase II).

Relevant background

Since early 2007, the Commission, the UN-family and the World Bank have worked together in setting up a platform for cooperation on post-crisis needs assessments for natural disaster (Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, PDNA) and conflict (Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment (RPBA), previously named Post-Conflict Needs Assessment, PCNA) scenarios. This trilateral cooperation was framed and formalised through the signature of a Joint Declaration on “Post-Crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning” in September 2008. The EU/UN/WB platform covers the whole PDNA/RPBA(PCNA) process, including strategic coordination, development of joint methodologies for post-crisis assessments, joint deployment of assessment teams, joint training and joint recovery planning and monitoring.

In line with the 2008 Declaration on Joint Post-crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning, the overall objective of the project is to assist and develop third countries’ in-country capacity to gradually assume a more prominent role in Post-Disaster Needs Assessments and Post-Conflict Needs Assessments (now changed to Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessments, RPBA).

The purpose of this project was:

• to support further development of joint PDNA/RPBA(formerly PCNA) methodologies, tools, training programmes, etc.;
• to support joint PDNA/RPBA(formerly PCNA) missions in-country/in region (in coordinating with EU Heads of Delegations and with the European External Actions Service (EEAS) and European Commission). While such support could cover any relevant technical field (long-term and short-term expertise), it is foreseen that a particular emphasis is put on expertise in mission planning and development of final reports/recovery frameworks.

The two phases of the project contributed to a variety of outputs and results, including:

• Phase 1 (01/01/2013 – 31/07/2015): revision of the PDNA methodology and development of the joint EU/UN/WB PDNA Guide, development of the Disaster Recovery Framework (DRF) Guide, review of the PCNA methodology, development of training and capacity building materials, delivery of information/capacity building sessions, joint PDNA/PCNA training courses for national authorities and regional/international organisations, support to over 15 joint EU/UN/WB PDNA/PCNA missions;
• Phase 2 (10/07/2015 – 09/07/2017): revision of the PCNA methodology and development of the RPBA methodology, development of training and capacity building materials, delivery of information/capacity building sessions, joint PDNA/RPBA training courses for national authorities and regional/international organisations, support to over 10 joint EU/UN/WB PDNA/RPBA missions.