Liberia, June 3 -- Liberia's ambitious decentralization agenda is facing a serious threat as a new assessment by Naymote Partners for Democratic Development has uncovered major fiscal, institutional, and governance gaps that continue to undermine county-level development and citizen participation.

The findings, unveiled Tuesday during the launch of a policy brief on decentralization and local governance at the Governance Commission in Monrovia, paint a troubling picture of a reform process struggling to move from policy promises to practical implementation.

According to the report, counties are receiving only a fraction of the funding needed to implement development projects identified by citizens through County Development Agendas (C...