Impact of Labor-Intensive Public Works in Liberia: Results from a Light Evaluation Survey

The President and the Government of Liberia have placed a strategic priority on youth employment and have asked development partners for support in these areas. The Office of the President, the government, and development partners have undertaken over the last two years several steps to generate immediate employment. These include the Cash for Work Temporary Employment Project (CfWTEP) financed by the World Bank Food Price Crisis Response initiative. This chapter provides an assessment of the experience to-date with CfWTEP,as well as a discussion of options for the expansion and continuation of the program. Over 2009-2010, CfWTEP has provided jobs to 17000 people in the country. In order to assess the program and suggest options for its continuation,a light evaluation survey was implemented in the country in November-December 2009 with four objectives: (i) Assessing the targeting performances of the program; (ii) Measuring the wage substitution effects among the participant; (iii) Analyzing the patterns of use of the wages received by households; and (iv) Documenting other aspects of the program. The results suggest that the performance of the program in all four areas of the evaluation was relatively good, but targeting to the very poor could be improved in the future.