The Second Training Cycle which lasted over the period of six weeks focused on the usage of Stata modern statistical programming and modeling package, MS-Word for report writing, Ms. Excel for data calculation and analysis as well as Advanced Excel.

Speaking at the occasion held Friday, October 12, 2018, in the 2nd Floor Conference Room of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, MFDP’S Assistant Minister for Development Planning, Hon. Benedict Kolubah, stated that one major goal of government’s Pro-Poor Agenda is the enhancement of the professional skills of the government’s employees.

According to Minister Kolubah, the Pro-Poor Agenda has two major goals. He named the goals of providing greater income skills for one million Liberians and lifting nearly 33 percent of the Liberian population out of poverty within a five –year period.

Additionally, Hon. Kolubah mentioned the building of capable state institutions that are trusted to provide effective and efficient services to the people across the nation.

He emphasized the need to measure the impact of the capacity building processes in Liberia, noting that over the years, capacity building has been a lip service.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of LIMPAC, Del-Francis Wreh said the main goal of Liberian Macroeconomic Policy Analysis Center’s Capacity Building Project is to improve the capacity of government employees in data analysis to support macroeconomic policy formulation, analysis, and strengthen the overall management’s process of government.
According to Director Wreh, robust data analysis for workforce across government’s institutions will maximize efficiency and productivity. He added that the current working environment requires that employees should be computer literate to understand data and statistical analyses to improve the quality of their reports to senior management across the public sectors.

The LIMPAC’S head recalled that the First Cycle graduated eighty (80) trainees while the second cycle was graduating an initial 54 staff. He disclosed that an additional 20 staff will be evaluated for certification and graduation based upon the recommendation of their instructor, who is currently on official duty outside of Liberia.

Furthermore, Executive Director Del-Francis Wreh explained that twenty-seven (27) of the fifty-four (54) graduates were females and revealed that Advanced Excel and Stata were added to the course list in the second cycle. The LIMPAC’s Executive Director used the occasion to thank the female graduates for their participation and determination to compete with their male colleagues in the skills acquisition process.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wreh has announced that the third cycle’s circular has been sent around. He added that Cycle three will include MS-Access and MS-PowerPoint in addition to the Stata statistical package, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Word which were offered under cycle 1 and 2. He advised the graduates to go beyond the knowledge attained in the training lab and challenge them to do constant practices to continuously improve their skills.

The LIMPAC Executive Director also used the occasion to thank the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) for it's continued support to LIMPAC and its capacity building initiatives. He also thanked Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Jr. and the senior management of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for their support and guidance to LIMPAC.
LIMPAC is a specialized unit within the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. The Center has responsibility for policy analysis, research, and training of public officials in macroeconomic related issues in Liberia. The Center, which is funded by the Government of Liberia and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) conducts policy researches and provide advisory services to the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in addition to implementing capacity building training activities.

Established in 1991, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF’s) mission is to build sustainable human and institutional capacity for sustainable growth, poverty reduction and economic transformation in Africa. The ultimate goal is to improve the lives and prospects of people throughout the African Continent. ACBF supports capacity development in Africa through grants, knowledge sharing and technical assistance to countries and regional and sub-regional organizations. ACBF’s approach to capacity development focuses on addressing capacity needs and gaps as well as on stakeholder ownership of interventions, project and program sustainability and synergy of interventions with other development funding institutions.