Subject: Development of a National Locality Directory

1 The central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is establishing a computerized database which will contain the names and Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of all localities in Liberia.  From the database, the Ministry will produce the National Locality Directory (NLD) – a listing of all wards of municipalities, towns, villages and hamlets in Liberia. 

2. The NLD is a technical tool for formulation and targeting of service-delivery to both residents and localities in Liberia. In other words, the NLD will make it easier to conduct condition assessment in communities, allocate resources, and make service-delivery resident and locality-sensitive. 

3. As the MIA drives the decentralization process, its lead projects are the production of: (a) the locality database; (b) the National Locality Directory; and (c) social service-delivery facility profiles of each locality in the directory. The NLD will also provide the platform for the locality boundary harmonization, the National Identification Registry (NIR), and other critical functions that are locality-sensitive.

4. The entire local government administrative structure of Liberia will be defined by the directory.  We will know all the neighborhoods or areas that make up a ward in a city, township or borough; we will know all the minor towns, villages and hamlets that make up a general [amalgamated] Town; we will know all the general towns that make up a clan; all the clans that make up a chiefdom; all the chiefdoms that make up an administrative district; and all the administrative districts that make up a county.

5. The primary idea of the NLD is to provide a framework through which every person in Liberia can be reached directly either in the house where he or she resides or at the place where he or she works.

6. The NLD will clarify the headquarter locality at each level of the local government administrative structure where official government activities are conducted or administered.

7. The way the locality database is designed requires that:

a) The Minister of Internal Affairs will register the various counties;

b) Each County Superintendent will register the administrative districts, cities, townships, and borough (where applicable) in his or her county;

c) Each Administrative District Commissioner will register the chiefdoms, townships and borough (where applicable) in his or her district;

d) Each City Mayor will register the various wards [zones] and their respective composite neighborhoods in his or her city;

e) Each Township Commissioner will register the various neighborhoods in his or her township;

f) Each Paramount Chief will register the various clans in his or her chiefdom;

g) Each Clan Chief will register the various general [amalgamated] towns in his or her clan; and

h) Each General Town Chief will register the various minor towns, villages, or hamlets in his or her general [amalgamated] town.

8. The central office of the MIA will provide all the stationery and guidelines for documentation of information required for the NLD.  An NLD Field Coordinator will be sent to each of the 15 counties to provide technical support to the Superintendent in collecting the information needed for the database.

9. Because the decentralization process places emphasis on the transfer of functional responsibilities to officials at the local government administrative levels, it is expected that each authority cited in this General Circular will perform the task assigned to him or her.  The role of the NLD Field Coordinator is to provide technical support.