Liberia: Methodology

The methodology used in 2011 for gathering information for the Annual Transparency Report Card involved desk review and interviews or correspondence with key informants linked to the forest sector. The Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), and the Land Commission websites provided most of the information. In addition, reports by consultants related to improving governance of the forest sector were also reviewed. A key constraint was the difficulty in obtaining up-to-date information from the FDA, despite World Bank funding for the establishment of an information centre for improving its response to public access to forest sector information.

The desk review focused on gathering information from key public and private institutions associated with the forest sector, which were considered important for the preparation of the 2011 Annual Transparency Report Card for the forest sector. These included

Community Forestry Development Committees (CFDCs): progress reports on the CFDCs and broader engagement between the CFDCs, logging companies and the FDA.

Forestry Development Authority (FDA): various documents including board meeting minutes, concession documents, Private Use Permits information, adopted regulations and stakeholders’ forums reports

Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS / Liberfor): monthly updates indicating payments made by logging companies to the national government through the Ministry of Finance and the FDA (SGS is a private company contracted by the government to track the chain of custody of timber from source to port).

NGO Coalition for Liberia: meeting minutes of the NGO coalition of Liberia and documents between the coalition and other relevant government agencies working on forestry issues.

Liberia Extractive Transparency Initiative (LEITI): information available on LEITI website www.leiti.org.lr and the 2010 report of LEITI.