MONROVIA – The Office of the Ombudsman of Liberia has moved to deepen institutional cooperation with the Embassy of Ireland, proposing a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening public accountability, professional capacity and ethical governance across Liberia.
The initiative follows a bilateral meeting held on September 8, 2026, between Irish Ambassador Gerard Considine and the leadership of Liberia’s Office of the Ombudsman.
Following the meeting, the Ombudsman’s Office submitted a strategic follow-up note outlining three targeted areas of cooperation that it believes could produce practical and high-impact results in Liberia’s ongoing efforts to strengthen accountability institutions.
The proposed cooperation is being framed within Ireland’s 2024–2028 Liberia Embassy Strategy, which places emphasis on transparent, inclusive and accountable institutions.
Rather than proposing a broad and potentially difficult-to-manage partnership, the Ombudsman’s Office has outlined a focused framework centered on peer learning, professional development and community-level accountability.
At the institutional level, the Office is proposing the establishment of structured technical linkages with Irish accountability institutions, particularly the Standards in Public Office Commission and the Irish Ombudsman.
The proposed arrangement would provide an avenue for Liberian accountability professionals to engage their Irish counterparts, exchange experiences and learn from institutional approaches to ethics, public administration and accountability.
For the Liberian Ombudsman, such peer engagement could provide an opportunity to strengthen professional practices while allowing the Office to examine approaches used in another jurisdiction to promote integrity within public institutions.
The proposed partnership also places considerable emphasis on strengthening the professional capacity of Ombudsman personnel.
Under the second area of cooperation, qualified technical personnel from the Ombudsman’s Office would be considered for participation in the upcoming application cycle of the Ireland Fellows Programme.
The proposal could provide selected Liberian professionals with opportunities for advanced academic and professional development while strengthening the technical capacity available within the Ombudsman’s Office upon their return.
The initiative comes at a time when the effectiveness of accountability institutions increasingly depends not only on their legal mandates but also on the technical expertise and professional capacity of the people working within them.
The Ombudsman’s Office is also proposing a third area of cooperation focused on public ethics, civil society participation and accountability at the county level.
Under the proposal, a Liberia-based pilot program would take ethics education and Code of Conduct enforcement directly into the counties.
The county-level component could broaden the reach of public accountability efforts beyond Monrovia and bring discussions about ethical conduct and public responsibilities closer to citizens and local public officials.
The proposed initiative is expected to create opportunities for communities and civil society organizations to become more familiar with public ethics and the standards expected of public officials.
It could also provide a practical platform for examining how the Code of Conduct is understood and applied outside the capital.
The Office has outlined a four-step implementation roadmap to move the proposals forward.
The first step would involve the designation of official focal points by both the Embassy of Ireland and the Office of the Ombudsman. These representatives would coordinate communication and guide the implementation of agreed activities.
The second step would involve introductory virtual engagements between the Liberian Office and its proposed Irish counterparts, including the Standards in Public Office Commission and the Irish Ombudsman.
The third step would focus on integrating the Ombudsman’s Office into the next Ireland Fellows Programme intake call.
The fourth step would involve exploring options for incorporating a modest county-level ethics pilot into upcoming Embassy programming schedules.
The proposals demonstrate an attempt to translate diplomatic engagement into practical institutional cooperation.
For Liberia, the potential partnership could provide access to international peer experience, professional development opportunities and new approaches to public accountability.
For Ireland, the proposed cooperation would complement its stated focus on supporting transparent, inclusive and accountable institutions under its current Liberia strategy.
The initiative also places emphasis on manageable interventions rather than creating a large institutional framework before the practical areas of cooperation have been tested.
The proposed county pilot, for example, could allow the participating institutions to assess the effectiveness of ethics education and Code of Conduct engagement at the community level before considering wider expansion.
The Office of the Ombudsman has not presented the proposals as a completed partnership. Instead, the follow-up note establishes areas for further engagement and identifies specific steps that could be taken by both sides.
The September 8 bilateral meeting therefore appears to have opened a pathway toward more structured cooperation between Liberia and Ireland in the area of public accountability.
If implemented, the partnership could combine institutional peer learning, professional development and grassroots ethics education into a single framework.
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