resorting to violence, and the with the United Nations Mission in fragile political situation in Liberia (UNMIL) to maintain an neighbors, Côte security presence in Liberia Liberia’s d'Ivoire and Guinea. including at the borders. UNMIL is scheduled to remain in Liberia at least Political risks loom large as until 2010. the population looks for a substantial peace dividend. The government is also using Failure to deliver jobs and to communication outreach to better tackle corruption could result inform the public of ongoing reforms in a lack of support for the and the likely impact on the delivery reform agenda. of public services. government’s Potential for disruptions due to upcoming elections in 2011. Not only a major risk, The ESP has focused on involving, to but with limited scope for the extent possible, local actors at identifying mitigating steps. county, district and school levels, in hopes that the involvement of these stakeholders, all of whom are important to their elected officials, will help stabilize policy gains in the face of political pressure. The Project Support Team to be established under the CF will be able to mitigate some of this risk by providing a core group with contractual status and no political orientation that will not be changed regardless of the outcomes of the election. Systematic The inadequacy of internal H The PFMU within the MOF addresses M Corruption controls in government this risk to a degree. Additionally, this systems, the history of risk is further mitigated by the widespread corruption during capacity building of staff within the the interim government and PFMU and MOE (procurement and lack of trained civil servants financial management) complemented also make this project a high by technical assistance and intense risk. Bank supervision. Sector-specific Risks Public Low salaries/benefits render S Civil service reform is currently M Administration MOE jobs unattractive to ongoing to design a compensation qualified personnel. regime that attracts, retains and motivates civil servants as well as a pension scheme that ensures decent post-service benefits. Basic Education Delivery of school grants H Transparency via advertisement in the S without leakage. local newspapers of the list of schools receiving grants and amount to be received. In the first year of CF implementation, the capacity MOE’s to administer the school grants via CSBs at the local level will be strengthened. Operation-specific Risks Technical Design Complexity of design and M The operation builds on the activities L ambitious activities. implemented under the LPERP. For
resorting to violence, and the fragile political situation in Liberia’s neighbors, Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea. Political risks loom large as the population looks for a substantial peace dividend. Failure to deliver jobs and to tackle corruption could result in a lack of support for the government’s reform agenda. Potential for disruptions due to upcoming elections in 2011. Not only a major risk, but with limited scope for identifying mitigating steps. with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to maintain an security presence in Liberia including at the borders. UNMIL is scheduled to remain in Liberia at least until 2010. The government is also using communication outreach to better inform the public of ongoing reforms and the likely impact on the delivery of public services. The ESP has focused on involving, to the extent possible, local actors at county, district and school levels, in hopes that the involvement of these stakeholders, all of whom are important to their elected officials, will help stabilize policy gains in the face of political pressure. The Project Support Team to be established under the CF will be able to mitigate some of this risk by providing a core group with contractual status and no political orientation that will not be changed regardless of the outcomes of the election. Systematic Corruption The inadequacy of internal controls in government systems, the history of widespread corruption during the interim government and lack of trained civil servants also make this project a high risk. H The PFMU within the MOF addresses this risk to a degree. Additionally, this risk is further mitigated by the capacity building of staff within the PFMU and MOE (procurement and financial management) complemented by technical assistance and intense Bank supervision. M Sector-specific Risks Public Administration Low salaries/benefits render MOE jobs unattractive to qualified personnel. S Civil service reform is currently ongoing to design a compensation regime that attracts, retains and motivates civil servants as well as a pension scheme that ensures decent post-service benefits. M Basic Education Delivery of school grants without leakage. H Transparency via advertisement in the local newspapers of the list of schools receiving grants and amount to be received. In the first year of CF implementation, the MOE’s capacity to administer the school grants via CSBs at the local level will be strengthened. S Operation-specific Risks Technical Design Complexity of design and ambitious activities. M The operation builds on the activities implemented under the LPERP. For L
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