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Articles

Liberia's Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP): an impact review and analytical assessment of a donor policy intervention for democratic state-building in a post-conflict state

Pages 243-263 | Published online: 23 Jul 2010
 

Abstract

In recent years, a number of African countries have scaled up their efforts to improve their democratic development and governance environments. Liberia took up that challenge, in partnership with donor agencies. Between 2006 and 2009 the country's government implemented a Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) to, among other things, control corruption, mitigate financial mismanagement, improve the capacity for better economic management, and elevate the performance of key institutions in a post-conflict environment for democratic and peaceful state-building. This article provides a review and analytical assessment of the GEMAP in the context of the donor policy intervention framework through which it was conceived and implemented. The evolution, nature, and impact of the program are documented and analysed, and areas where there could have been greater effectiveness are discussed.

Notes

1. See, for instance, the GEMAP website of the US Agency for International Development for more details, <http://liberia.usaid.gov/node/60> (accessed 7 May 2010).

2. Dwan R & L Bailey, ‘Liberia's Governance and Economic Management Assistance Programme (GEMAP): A Joint Review by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations’ Peacekeeping Best Practices Section and the World Bank's Fragile States Group’, May 2006, p. 13, <http://www.peacekeepingbestpractices.unlb.org/PBPS/Library/DPKO-WB%20joint%20review%20of%20GEMAP%20FINAL.pdf> (accessed 7 May 2010).

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51. Sayeh A, op. cit, p. 2.

52. Minutes not published, but available to the author.

53. Atkinson P, op. cit, p. 37. Others have argued that the original GEMAP provisions to build capacity were deliberately vague. See, for example, Ohiorhenuan J, The Challenge of Economic Reform in Post-Conflict Liberia: The Insider's Perspective, 2007, <http://www.undp.org/cpr/content/economic_recovery/Background_5.pdf> (accessed 4 September 2009).

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67. NTGL & ICGL, op. cit, p. 6.

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