Speeches

Proud of the investments USG has made towards climate change and sustainable development. Since 2008, USG invested over $100 million on environment and climate change programs. Through environment programs, USAID leveraged investments of over $50 million for forest management and biodiversity conservation and reduced over 25 million metric tons of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from deforestation and land use change.

BIFAD has been a critical partner with USAID for nearly 50 years, drawing upon America’s universities—many represented here today—to support a global transformation of agriculture and food systems that now feed twice as many people as they did a generation ago, back in 1975.

I am honored by your invitation to speak to you today about the importance of public sector reforms, particularly reforms designed to create a strong public financial management system for Liberia. A strong public financial management system, as you know, promotes efficient and accountable governance. And governments that are efficient and accountable do a better job at delivering public goods and services, providing for the poor, and creating an environment that attracts investments, spurs private sector growth, and creates jobs.

So, the work that we do fundamentally is development and humanitarian work.  And what I'm trying to emphasize is that it is your voices -- local organizations, local leaders, young people -- that help us define what our priorities are as we figure out, in this sea of need, which issues we prioritize and where -- you know, our evaluations of the work that we do are not just done by some consultants who come from Washington; but you know, that you are the ultimate judge of whether our programs are delivering for your development needs.