Liberia: Lessons Learnt

Liberia has made clear efforts to recognize the need for transparency and the free access to information. It became the first country in the world to include forestry in its Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) process. The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act that became law in October 2010 reinforces existing legal provisions including Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), Act and the National Forestry Reform Law of 2006 (NFRL) that promote transparency. The FOI Act has the potential to greatly contribute to public accountability and increase transparency for monitoring the performance of a range of concession contracts, including those in the forest sector. These laws will be more meaningful if individuals and groups within civil society develop the skills and knowledge to exercise these rights to access public information and to use them to demand accountability in government.

At present, civil society and citizens are yet to fully appreciate and utilise the space it now has to influence decision making processes in practice. Our analysis found a general level of awareness and consensus that forest sector information is important, however, citizens and civil society do not actually possess information on them. Strategies to increase information provision – such as the FDA’s longstanding plan to create an information centre – need to be implemented alongside work to strengthen citizen’s understanding of their role in making sure that information is available, accessible, and useful.