Liberia economic policy dialogue activity (LEPDA) final evaluation : final report

To achieve this, the Activity established Policy Unit Teams (PUTs) within the GoL and provided training and short-term technical assistance to policy leaders and civil servants as well as researchers and analysts in civil society organizations (CSOs). This report captures lessons learned and effective approaches applied during the implementation of LEPDA in the areas of GoL leadership commitment, absorptive capacity, and gender responsiveness, and proposes approaches for the design of a successor USAID Activity that may facilitate stronger outcomes in working with GoL and civil society organizations. LEPDA effectively convened stakeholders, facilitated policy coordination, and strengthened CSO policy research and analytical skills, all important gains necessary in strengthening partners’ policy-making capacity. Progress on achieving major institutional and policy reforms was limited due to the uneven commitment of high-level GoL policymakers, shifting priorities of USAID/GoL, and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. LEPDA’s core objectives remain credible and crucial to economic transformation and development in Liberia. The report therefore recommends a successor USAID Activity with similar objectives. It moreover recommends continuation and scale-up of certain LEDPA activities along with a greater policy focus on implementation. Any future Activity should try to ensure high-level participation of partners in the governance of the activity to gain stakeholder buy-in as well as more visible roles for the organized private sector and a greater investment in communications. It is also important that such follow-on activity focus mainly on ministries, agencies, and commissions (MACs), whose mandates relate directly to economic development and facilitating dialogue and communication on pertinent economic reforms among stakeholders and the general public at the community level.