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 Sadacious Varney focuses on the management of the payroll audit for the Liberia Education Ministry teaching and vetting project supported by Big Win Philanthropies. 

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. 

E.M. Debrah recounts his experiences in public sector reform in Ghana. He goes into detail about the culture of the civil service in Ghana as well as how one normally enters into the civil service, such as through the specially formed training institute, the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. He also explains the recruitment strategy needed to increase capacity within the civil service and the training programs and internal review sessions that were conducted. He explains the need to increase remuneration packages and the creation of pension plans to lure more talent into the civil service, as well as detailing the retrenchment program Ghana introduced. Debrah also talks about the dynamic between host countries and donors and how to strike the right balance within this relationship to be able to work effectively. Finally, he makes the point that in order for reform to be successful, it must be realistic as well. One must be able to see one’s own limitations and plan accordingly.
 

Ramesh Chand (R.C.) Jain, deputy commissioner of Kamrup for Guwahati, India, describes his efforts to revive and reform the Assam State Transport Corp. during his tenure as managing director beginning in the year 2000. At the time he assumed his position, ASTC was on the verge of being closed down after 100 years of existence. It had about 5,400 employees who had not been paid for 14 months, a substantial debt, and only 72 vehicles in operating condition, earnings from which were almost nothing. The employees had been agitating and protesting since 1988. He discusses how he convened meetings of top employees and slowly persuaded them that they would benefit from significant changes. He had political support from the transport minister to undertake reform at any cost. Jain talks about reducing the number of employees through a voluntary retirement plan, requesting voluntary assistance from Tata Motors to train ASTC mechanics and improve repair shops, and starting an innovative public-private partnership by offering ASTC stations to private operators who would use ASTC vehicles and share income. He then convinced the private operators to recruit drivers and conductors from ASTC’s surplus workforce on financial terms favorable to both the operators and ASTC, and started a system under which each vehicle had an owner who was responsible for operating, maintaining and repairing it. He also talks about a zero-based inventory system under which parts were purchased from dealers only when needed. He also negotiated bulk purchases of tires, batteries, lubricants, and fuel, which were then sold to the operators at market rates.  He also discusses other measures taken by the Minister of Transport.