In this interview Jessica Bimba, Virginia Lighe, Sudacious Varney, and Veekie Wilson explain the process used to remove ghost workers from Liberia's teacher payroll, review qualifications, and test functional literacy in English and math. This exercise began in 2015 with a pilot project and concluded in 2017. The interview briefly discusses the creation of a project implementation unit and then outlines the steps taken to explain the process, identify "ghosts," check qualifications, administer the test, and issue a biometric id. The participants explain the rationale behind several important decisions. They also talk about some of the challenges they faced and how they addressed them. 

In this interview, Gbovadeh Gbilia discusses his work on reforming Liberia’s teaching service and expunging ghosts from its payroll. He begins by examining his time as a senior technical advisor at the Civil Service Agency, what he learned there and how he was able to bring lessons from reforms he assisted there to his new role in the Ministry of Education. He goes on to outline the framework of the reform process, with emphasis on how to secure buy-in from governmental stakeholders, reform participants and donors. Throughout the interview, he discusses how his team secured the wins that made the reform relatively successful, and how they overcame the challenges such bold reforms are bound to face.

Mary Mulbah and Samuel Johnson were teachers’ union leaders at the time of the interview. They explain the basis of their opposition to a ghost-worker removal and teacher certification effort carried out by Liberia’s Ministry of Education in 2017, with support from Big Win Philanthropy. The stated purpose of that program was to improve the quality of education in Liberia’s schools. At the time the project started, the Ministry of Education also launched a separate experimental program with the international for-profit network of schools, Bridge Academies, to manage several model schools. The union opposed the Bridge Academies initiative, and the objections carried over to the program to remove ghost workers and require testing and re-training of teachers some teachers. This interview helps readers understand the teachers’ union view of the vetting program. This interview was edited to reduce repetition and provide clarifying information.