Content Management System workshop in Liberia brings together IT experts and Public Relations Office

In continuation of its effort to help Liberian Government build sustainable nationwide ICT systems, the USAID/Digital Liberia and eGovernance activity supported the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MOPT) to conduct a two-day workshop in August on the use of a content management system (CMS.)

The training was designed to improve the capacity of various ministries, agencies, and commissions (MACs), enabling them to publish and update information on their websites without the need to request IT assistance.

To ensure local ownership, and as the initial step, Digital Liberia identified Libtelco application developer Nixon Flomo as the person best-positioned to lead the initiative and motivated to bring change and innovation to the GoL. Equally important was the selection of the Public Relations Officers (PROs) who would participate in the training. IT experts from 34 MACs nominated PROs from their agencies to attend the training. The Ministry of Health’s (MOH) webmaster, Calvin Coleman, complemented Mr. Flomo’s training agenda by showcasing a successful example of the ministry’s use of WordPress, an open-source, free content management system (CMS).

Digital Liberia project helped design the workshop materials and included all of the information necessary to build skills required to confidently manage website content, including publishing news and updating information.

This workshop, endorsed by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah Sr., marks a major step toward Liberia’s development of robust ICT systems in that it was the first time IT professionals worked together with PROs. As always, interdepartmental communication will be critical for the sustainability of these and other improvements. Now that PROs have the necessary skills and contacts, they are more likely to cooperate with the IT professionals to migrate their websites to WordPress and enjoy the benefits of a simple, user-friendly CMS platform. As Mr. Nalon Kaine, Head of PMO at MOPT, said, “Citizens can now look forward to being better informed through government websites.”