The National Food Assistance Agency (NFAA) concluded a two-day staff retreat over the week with a call to scale up food assistance activities in Liberia as the government leads concerted efforts with development partners in the global fight against food and nutrition insecurity towards the SDGs 2030 targets.
The event, being the agency’s first annual retreat in decades, was organized to strengthen institutional performance, foster team cohesion, and chart a strategic path to meeting the food needs of the nation’s vulnerable and food-insecure population. Held under the theme: “Management Performance Review, Planning and Strengthening Internal Controls,” the retreat drew senior management team of NFAA, including DG Borkai A.M. Sirleaf, DDGO Elton S. Dickson, unit heads and some technicians at Wulki Farm in Careysburg city, Montserrado County.
Among other targets, the retreat sought to reflect on the 2025 performance and retool the strategic planning for 2026, foster collaboration and innovation, strengthen organizational culture, and empower staff’s participation by acknowledging their expertise and contributions.
The event was characterized by presentations from heads of various units and interspersed with breakup sessions for group discussions.
Meanwhile, Mr. Martin S. Kollah, external facilitator at the retreat, took participants through series of topics on ‘Internal Systems and Controls’, emphasizing the need to put in place every necessary institutional policy to meet internationally accepted standards to attract donors’ confidence. According to Mr. Kollah, instituting such policy measures would often not happen without resistance. “Naturally, human beings hate change, so introducing a change in any existing policy should be done tactfully,” Mr. Kollah cautioned.
In a brief remark at the close of day two, DG Sirleaf urged all staff of the agency to gird up their loins and broaden their minds as NFAA is set to reach the underserved communities in the coming year with food aid from funding through the government of Liberia and other international partners.
