[{"bbox": [114, 132, 1117, 190], "category": "Text", "text": "protected, particularly under traditional law; and sexual and gender-based violence, as well as impunity, is high."}, {"bbox": [114, 227, 731, 257], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 1.3 Public Policy Analysis of the partner country/region"}, {"bbox": [114, 269, 659, 299], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### Public Policy Assessment and EU Policy Framework"}, {"bbox": [114, 309, 1117, 657], "category": "Text", "text": "The policy and strategy of the previous Government under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was called Agenda for Transformation (AfT) and had been assessed by the EU as relevant. President George Weah's Government, established in January 2018, is developing a successor strategy called the \"Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD)\". The strategy has four pillars: Empowering the people; Economy and jobs; Sustaining the peace; and Governance & transparency. It explicitly targets the under-served South-East of the country; the EU action is fully aligned with this geographic priority. The new public policy, which is under development, is provisionally assessed as being relevant and credible by the EU. It reflects the commitment of the Republic of Liberia in eradicating poverty and reducing inequality aligned to the objectives of the European Union (EU) prescribed in the National Indicative Programme (NIP) 2014-2020. Owing to the EU's strong presence in Budget support, EU staff are continuously reviewing and assessing the credibility and relevance of the Government's public policy."}, {"bbox": [114, 669, 1117, 1103], "category": "Text", "text": "At sectorial level, the official policy is the Liberia Energy policy 2009, which is considered relevant but requires updating. The 2015 Electricity Law of Liberia and the Act to establish the Rural and Renewable Energy Agency (RREA) represent the legal foundation. The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), has requested the EU Delegation in Liberia to implement a project for the expansion of Rural Electrification supply to the South-East of Liberia. This action fully supports the implementation of the Rural Energy Strategy and Master Plan and Government priorities to continue to expand electricity to all parts of Liberia. The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) prepared for the Paris Agreement underlines that the energy sector is the highest contributor of greenhouse gases (GHG) in Liberia emanating mainly from the use of traditional fuels such as firewood, charcoal and palm oil and the use of fossil fuels, especially petroleum products. Liberia's Initial National Communication (2013) reinforces the National Energy Policy with additional long-term targets and related activities, which includes: (i) reducing GHGs by at least 10% by 2030; (ii) improving energy efficiency by at least 20% by 2030; (iii) raising share of renewable energy to at least 30% of electricity production and 10% of overall energy consumption by 2030."}, {"bbox": [114, 1115, 1117, 1319], "category": "Text", "text": "The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC) was established by law in 2015. The three Commissioners appointed by the previous administration in 2017 were in an acting position unable to recruit staff. Finally, with the appointment by the President in September 2018 of three new Commissioners, recruitment of the other office staff is ongoing. With Donor technical assistance (TA), including by the EU, drafts of key implementing regulations, a draft multi-annual budget for LERC and job descriptions for LERC staff were prepared. Currently the recruitment process for staff is ongoing."}, {"bbox": [114, 1331, 399, 1361], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 1.4 Stakeholder analysis"}, {"bbox": [114, 1373, 332, 1402], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### Stakeholder analysis"}, {"bbox": [114, 1413, 1117, 1617], "category": "Text", "text": "The Government of Liberia is the main duty bearer, responsible to promote, protect and fulfil human rights obligations. The Government has shown a high level of commitment in implementing the previous national development plans, but remains hampered by the weak institutional capacity and policy framework to coordinate actions and follow-up on implementation. The institutional capacity across government will improve only gradually but some lessons have been learnt from the AfT mid-term review. A Monitoring and Evaluation Unit has since then been established in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP)."}, {"bbox": [608, 1678, 622, 1697], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "5"}]