MONROVIA, Jan.14 (LINA) – The Director General of the Liberia Institute of Public Administration (LIPA), Alex B. Yonly, has underscored the need for ‘participatory engagement’ in Liberia as a means of fostering and accelerating national development.
Speaking in an interview with the Liberia News Agency (LINA) in Monrovia on Wednesday, Prof. Yonly said the Government needs to engage the citizenry by showcasing the achievements and challenges so that the people will know the level of development that is being achieved by the Government and its partners.
« I believe in the participatory management theory. Regardless of who you are, we can work together and I want to see LIPA building more capacity for the citizenry, » he said, adding that “we do have more reflective numbers that we have trained that are impacting the country.”
According to Yonly, the transitional plan of the institution is effective, but the entity is revisiting its timetable for a move to Doemahs’s Town in Margibi County where LIPA has constructed a three-story building as part its decentralization plan that will help the institute to train more and more participants both in the public and private sectors.
He asserted that the institution has made tremendous achievements in recent months in capacity development and has also trained about 540 civil servants in several disciplines.
« In building a capable society and a vibrant state, you have to have a knowledge management system that will work for the society, » Yonly emphasized.”
According to him, those individuals that were trained by LIPA from different Ministries and Agencies are working hard in order to transform their respective institutions for the betterment of all.
Yonly observed that strengthening the capacity of the government workforce will help create an enabling working environment for all and that productivity will be the hallmark of the day.
He, however, warned citizens that “Liberia is the only country that we have and should desist from all the negative vices that will derail the country’s growth and development,” noting that “publishing positive information can help to unite us.”
Director Yonly applauded international partners, including UNDP, AfDB, and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning for their unflinching support to the institution, while encouraging them to continue their kind gesture towards Liberia.
The Liberia Institute of Public Administration was established in 1969 through an Act of the National Legislature with the mandate to strengthen the Administrative function and professional capability of the Government of Liberia, the public and private sectors through training of personnel and individual participants as well as to execute research of public administration and consultancy with the purpose of developing maximum utilization of potential sources as it relates to manpower development.
