Liberia trained 39 people in e-government communications, 31 in public sector budgeting processes, 39 in e-government MIS, 36 in project management, and 37 in change management. In collaboration with the government, CIO Council, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MOPT), and Libtelco, Digital Liberia completed a three-month CIO training program for 46 information technology (IT) heads and practitioners from 30 MACs. Launched Quarter 2 of FY 2019, the training program aimed to build senior-level capacity in MACs to implement e-government initiatives. Mainstreaming ICT Policy and e-Government Strategy. As part of mainstreaming the acceptance and adoption of the e-government strategy, in FY 2017 Digital Liberia fielded a short-term expert to assess and make recommendations on ICT financing in government. The expert identified a critical shortcoming in the government chart of accounts: there were only two codes for ICT expenditure, making it impossible to budget for and differentiate critical items. The expert recommended creating new line items to facilitate disaggregation of ICT expenditures by type. In Quarter 2 of FY 2019, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning informed Digital Liberia that these recommendations were enacted and would be available for the government’s FY 2019/2020 budget cycle. In Quarter 1 of FY 2019, Digital Liberia assisted MOPT to improve the draft policy (ICT Policy 20192024) by identifying possible gaps, mistakes, and omissions. The project also recommended how to address these issues and adapt the policy to ensure it reflected best practices aligned with the GOL’s development agenda. In Quarter 4 of FY 2019, the government formally adopted the ICT policy. The new policy guides ICT developments in the Government of Liberia. Together with the egovernment strategy, it helps ensure that the government correctly allocates scarce resources to ICT initiatives, aligned with government priorities. MOPT is the custodian of the new policy and is responsible for ensuring its implementation. As ICT activity occurs across MACs, MOPT needs to ensure that each institution accepts and understands the plan and its implementation; the ministry must also track progress in this regard. The ICT policy and e-government strategy provide a scaffolding to guide the ministry’s efforts to lead and monitor the policy execution. In Quarter 1 of FY 2020, Digital Liberia worked with MOPT to better understand these roles and responsibilities and helped convene an initial workshop with the ICT sector and MACs that have committed to implement key initiatives. This initial capacity building effort will guide the ministry’s commitment to conducting regular coordination and monitoring activities to encourage implementation of ICT policy across the government. Digital Liberia assisted the ministry’s new administration to hold its first government ICT sector stakeholder meeting to review the outcomes of the e-government strategy and set new priorities. At the meeting, stakeholders recognized the government’s achievement of significant progress toward reaching many of the goals and priorities established in the ICT policy, the e-government strategy, and during the Ebola response. However, the meeting also noted significant challenges to sustained progress. Key to sustainability is the government’s ability to marshal the necessary resources to maintain existing investments and deliver new initiatives. In FY 2019 Digital Liberia helped to raise the awareness in the ministry of the role of a plan for ICT resource mobilization, as outlined in the new ICT policy. The plan should help the government to identify and access sources of funding and support, including internal sources, such as through budget requests and applications to the Universal Services Fund, and through external sources such as the private sector and donor community. Digital Liberia undertook a variety of workshops and supporting activities to explain the plan’s purpose, benefits, and modalities, and to encourage the ministry to allocate the necessary human resources and attention to design and execute the plan. In Quarter 1 of FY 2020, the project held the final workshop with the minister and his team, leaving the ministry with the information and know-how to implement the plan. As part of government efforts to mobilize resources, Digital Liberia helped the ministry plan for an envisaged ICT Donor Working Group, which would provide an important forum for the government DIGITAL LIBERIA FINAL REPORT | 8