Speaking at the occasion held Friday, August 17, in the 2nd Floor Conference Room of the Ministry, the Deputy Minister of Administration at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Hon. Rebecca McGill conveyed appreciations to LIMPAC and her partner, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), for affording employees of MFDP the training opportunity and for its broader goal of implementing capacity building programs across the public sector in Liberia. She encouraged the trainees to apply what they have learned in the execution of their various responsibilities and expressed the hope that the utilization of the acquired skills by the trained employees will enhance efficiency and productivity at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP).

Moreover, Hon. Rebecca McGill has challenged the trained employees to share the skills with their colleagues terming knowledge sharing as a multiplier in capacity development in any institution. Minister McGill describing the capacity building as “strengthening skills, competency and ability” added that capacity building in the public sector as part of the Pro-poor Agenda of the government would enable employees to develop the requisite skills and competencies that could also make them employable in the private sector or independently sustainable.

She then appealed for more support from the African Capacity Building Foundation in the provision of the requisite pieces of equipment that would enable the employees to put their newly acquired skills to the best of use.

For his part, Mr. Del-Francis Wreh, LIMPAC’s Executive Director who gave an overview of the program, paid tribute to the efforts of former Finance and Development Planning Minister, Hon. Boima S. Kamara, whose efforts, he said, had laid to the establishment of the training lab within the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. He said Minister Kamara encouraged the ACBF to provide the fund for both the lab and payments for the facilitation of the training during a visit of a high-level delegation of the Foundation to Liberia early 2017.

Mr. Wreh also lauded Finance and Development Planning Minister Hon. Samuel D. Tweah, Jr. and the entire Senior Management Team for the tremendous support shown towards accelerating the work of LIMPAC including capacity building initiatives at the Ministry.

He recalled that Minister Tweah dedicated the training lab a few weeks ago and charged LIMPAC to conduct different kinds of training that would build the capacity of staff, while also acknowledging that with the supervision of Deputy Minister for Economic Management Hon. Augustus Flomo LIMPAC immediately embarked upon a process that determined the immediate capacity needs of employees at the Ministry.
According to Mr. Wreh, through their assessments, they realized that staffs were keen about building capacities in the usage of MS Word to do reports as well as in the usage of MS Excel to do data calculations, data analysis, to support their analytical capabilities, etc.

Meanwhile, the LIMPAC’s Executive Director has disclosed that the second cycle of the training exercises is already ongoing and the LIMPAC facilitators have placed more emphasis on Advanced Excel skills, and STATA for more robust statistical and data analysis. He said the STATA training comprises of 36 employees from the LISGIS, LRA, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Economic Management Department and the Tax Policy Division of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.

Also speaking at the occasion was Mr. Cletus Noah, Chief of Office Staff in the office of Finance and Development Planning Minister who proxied for the Honorable Minister Samuel D. Tweah. Mr. Noah lauded LIMPAC for the successful completion of the First Cycle of training exercises. He encouraged the successful participants to constantly practice their skills if they are to retain the knowledge acquired.

Mr. Noah, on behalf of Minister Tweah, conveyed profound gratitude to the African Capacity Building Foundation for their support to LIMPAC in building capacity in the country’s public sector. He also pledged the sustained support of Minister Tweah to the programs and activities of LIMPAC.

The Liberia Macroeconomic Policy Analysis Center was established in 2006 through Executive Order Number 7 but became a specialized unit at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in 2014. The center, which is funded by the Government of Liberia and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) conduct policy research and provide advisory services to the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in addition to implementing capacity building initiatives. The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), which is now a specialized unit of African Union, was established in 1991 to help build capacities across the African continent to ensure that governments achieve their development agenda.