Ensuring Transparency and Accountability of Public Funds (NSA)
On May 20, 2016, the Community Safety Initiative (CSI) was awarded a grant by Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), under the Integrated Public Financial management Reform Project (IPFMRP), to help increase citizens’ limited knowledge on the mobilization, allocation and utilization of public resources in Voinjama, Kolahun and Foya Districts in Lofa County.
The Project titled “Ensuring Transparency and Accountability of Public Funds through Civic Education, Advocacy and Budget Monitoring”. The grant has empowered CSI’s interventions in the delivery activities to increasing knowledge of citizens on the mobilization, allocation and utilization of public funds in the target districts through capacity building to demand and ensure transparency and accountability in the management and usage of public fund by the stake actors as well as service providers to accelerate development action at the county level.
As it has be mentioned, the project has contributed in achieving all deliverables in the implement quality implementation of government projects through supportive monitoring and social audit exercise carried out by the local citizens such includes:
- The renovation of Kolahun District Guest House trough resources mobilized from County Development Fund and other collections for development purposes.
- Increased consultative engagement of local services user; other established civic society organizations and community-based institutions through dialogue to enhance disbursement of government funding allotted in the county and comprehensive reporting exercise by the local authorities for users.
- Organized capacity building training workshops at different locations to enhance citizen participation in the mobilization and allocation of pubic funds. Which increased demand actions students from the government funded higher institution of learning in the county for the reduction of internet and other feels for all students.
- Prompted and strengthen collaboration partnership with the Government of Liberia and other agencies through public outreach activities and non confrontational dialogue in finding common solutions to common development challenges through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) in collaboration with NSA Secretariat. The exercise helped citizens/service users and public officials or service providers would work side-by-side in; identifying problem for roundtable discussion, provide a solution to the problem including building consensus for acting on both the problem and the solution.
CSI in partnership with Institute for Research and Democratic Development (IREDD) former LDI implemented project entitle “Increase Accountability in the Border areas of the Mino River sub-region by Fostering Community Engagement in Policy Making”. We have carryout Sensitization and Social Mobilization, on Local Governance Barometer leading to accountability and transparency assessment using the tool kit, in the six (6) Clans in Kolahun District. Partner to monitor and conduct social audit on 3 completed and uncompleted county development funded projects across the three districts (Voinjama guest house, Kolahun Counsel Hall and Foya clan’s houses) in Lofa County. The funding support from the Institute for Research and Democratic Development (IREDD)