CSA Bids Farewell to OSIWA Boss

The Country Coordinator of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa or OSIWA, Mr. Joe Pemagbi, has received high marks from the Director General of the Civil Service Agency (CSA) for his invaluable contributions to capacity building in the country’s Public Service.

Speaking at a sendoff ceremony recently, Civil Service Director General Dr. C. William Allen, described Mr. Pemagbi as a true technocrat, who represented his organization well during his tour of duty here for the past four years.

The Open Society Initiative of West Africa is an arm of the Open Society Initiative otherwise known as the Soros Foundation based in New York, USA.

The OSI is a principal donor to the Liberia Emergency Capacity Building Support [LECBS] project which provides resources to help the country meets its human and institutional capacity gaps precipitated as a result of the Civil War.

Dr. Allen praised Mr. Pemagbi, who served as OSI’s representative on the Project Steering Committee (PSC) of the LECBS, and said he would be missed for the professional and collaborative manner in which he ably worked to sustain the project since he joined the PSC in 2007.

Other members of the PSC, including Deputy Planning Minister Sebastian Muah and Mr. Stanley Kamara of the UNDP, also added their voices and compliments to the good work of Mr. Pemagbi here as representative of OSI.

In response, Mr. Pemagbi thanked the Liberian Government for proving that it is indeed ready to address major challenges, especially in line with capacity building. He said although there are still challenges, the current government has made tremendous efforts and has proven that it is willing to address major issues of national concern.

“The human resource development of (Liberia) has improved considerably. There is progress made in that direction but the major challenge now is sustainability,” Mr. Pemagbi said. He then stressed the need for government to take ownership of its capacity building programs and move beyond dependence on donor funding.

Mr. Pemagbi leaves Liberia in a few weeks for another assignment with OSI.