USAID Local Empowerment for Accountability and Decentralization (LEAD) Activity

Scope of Work for

Legal Consultants to Update City Ordinances in Gbarnga, Ganta and Buchanan

• Background

The USAID Liberia Local Empowerment for Accountability and Decentralization (LEAD) Activity was awarded to DAI Global LLC for a period of five year, from May 19, 2023 to May 18, 2028.The goal of this Activity is to improve the capacities of targeted ministries, agencies, and commissions (MACs), and local government to formulate and administer sound tax policies, improve budget transparency, deepen decentralization, and deliver much-needed quality services at the sub-national level through the following objectives:

1. Objective 1: Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) Improved,
2. Objective 2: Budget Transparency Improved, which comprises of three sub-objectives
3. Objective 3: Local Development and Service Delivery Improved

Under Objective 3 Local Development and Service Delivery, LEAD will partner with national government institutions such as Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Governance Commission (GC) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to formulate appropriate programs aimed at supporting the realization of the Government of Liberia’s decentralization objectives. These include capacity of local governments to perform the following devolved functions among others:

• planning and budgeting
• financial management
• own-source resource mobilization
• local government administration and management
• service delivery

• Position Objectives

The main objective for this assignment is to strengthen the legal and administrative frameworks for increased revenues and improved fee collection for the three city corporations in Buchanan, Ganta and Gbarnga.

• strengthen the legal and administrative frameworks for increased fee collection by three city corporations
• support cities to strengthen their systems/mechanisms for check-and-balance, accountability, and transparency in management of fees
• develop concepts for public-private partnerships for effective fee collection
• Scope of Work of the Assignment
• • Review of Local Government Act of 2018, Revenue Sharing Law of 2022 and document provisions that are applicable and/or relevant to revenue generation by cities
  • Consult with LEAD’s national and subnational counterparts– Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Liberia Revenue Authority and other stakeholders

• Using the findings of the review and consultations above, review the city ordinances of Gbarnga, Ganta and Buchanan, and make recommendations for new ordinances and amendments to make the city ordinances consistent with the own-source revenue provisions of those laws

• Provide legal support to city councils to undertake the adoption of new ordinances and amendments to existing ordinances relevant to the purpose of this assignment, including, among others, the following:
  • drafting of new and/or amended ordinances
  • facilitate stakeholder consultations
  • coordinating public awareness on new/revised/amended ordinances
  • supporting city corporations and LEAD team to liaise with city councils for
• Develop and disseminate awareness material on local media sources throughout the three cities

• Deliverables
• workplan with timeline and schedule of deliverables
• Drafts of new and/or amended ordinances
• Reports of stakeholder consultations at city levels
• Prepare public awareness messages for dissemination
• Launch awareness program based on approved awareness messages using local media resources
• Final consultancy report with the following annexes:
  • Final, validated methodology for forecasting own-source revenues
  • Report on stakeholder consultations
  • Validation reports
  • Pre-test report, including quantitative and qualitative information

Minimum Requirements

• A degree in law, preferably public law, urban management, public administration, public policy, or other relevant qualification for the assignment

• At least five (5) years of experience in similar responsibilities, including decentralization, governance reforms, legal services, and system reforms

• Excellent written and oral communication skills; fluency in English is required.
• Computer literacy in word processing, spreadsheet, data analysis, and presentation software

Note: Applicants who cite qualification in law must include up-to-date evidence that they satisfy all the regulatory requirements to practice law.

Deadline for the submission of applications is February 12, 2024, at 5:00 PM.

Women and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

The job advertisements are now live for Liberia LEAD. Interested candidates are invited to apply via this email:

LiberiaLEADRecruitment@dai.com