WATER & SANITATION
PROGRAM
The Future In Our Hands in Liberia (FIOH-Liberia) is a national non-
governmental organization, which seeks to alleviate poverty in a sustainable
way by focussing on projects that are initiated by poor people in local
communities. It incorporates a strong element of educational and vocational
training, enhances the status and involvement of women in the development
process and creates ecological awareness. It was established in 2004
as a network member of the FIOH International based in the United Kingdom.
Today, it focuses on development, capacity building, advocacy and networking.
Various studies and surveys indicate that Liberia is a country endowed
with vast surface and ground water resources. However, due to the inability
to exploit this tremendous potential, access to safe drinking water
in the country is limited only to very few of the country's population
(ave 29.3 percent and 14.7 percent access to rural areas). In the rural
areas, where the problem is more serious, the average consumption rate
is three-four litres per capita against the internationally accepted
rate of 20 litres per day. The problem is more severe for women and
children who are traditionally responsible for fetching water for their
families.
In most communities in Liberia, women and children spend several hours
each day fetching water from unprotected and unhygienic sources such
as rivers, ponds, springs etc., which are far from the villages. Women
and children are forced to walk up and down to fetch water, not only
for the family, but also for their livestock. The large amount of time
and energy spent in fetching water could be saved and used for other
activities that are more productive and would increase the household
income. Moreover, due to the demand on the children to fetch water,
most children are either unable to attend school or quickly drop out.
The sanitation practice is even more critical and in Liberia the situation
is considered to be among the worst in the world. Only limited households
have access to any form of sanitation facilities. Almost the entire
rural and majority of the urban population defecates in their backyards
and nearby open fields, which are also, in most cases, children's playgrounds.
Other sanitation and hygiene related practices are also very poor due
to people's limited understanding of the relationship between water,
sanitation, and health. These conditions significantly contribute to
the poor health of the majority of the country's population. As a result,
intestinal parasites, diarrhoea, eye, and skin diseases are common.
The water and sanitation problems have been aggravated by the 14-year
long civil war, which affected the entire country. All these health
problems could be prevented and their prevalence could be reduced significantly
by improving access to clean water and sanitation facilities, and sanitation/hygiene
practices.
The project will
be implemented by FIOH-Liberia in three counties of Liberia (Grand Cape
Mount, Bomi and Loffa counties). It is estimated that 400 families will
benefit from each project, with an average of five people per family.
As such, this project could reach 2000 indirect participants for each
of the projects, totaling approximately 6000 indirect participants.
Among the indirect participants of these projects will be disadvantaged
and vulnerable women and children who are typically responsible for
fetching household water, and are highly affected by waterborne health
problems due to the lack of adequate and safe drinking water, as well
as poor personal hygiene and environmental sanitation services. The
specific locations of the proposed projects are Tienni and Vonzua in
Grand Cape Mount County, Tubmanbourg and Clay in Bomi County and Bolahun
and Kolahun in Loffa County.
The goals of this program include:
1) improve six communitie's access to safe drinking water;
2) improve the sanitation and hygiene practices of approximately 1200
households within six communities;
3) improve awareness of, and participation in the protection of the
environment and natural watershed areas;
4) improve people's access to affordable and safe water through FIOH-Liberia's
national advocacy efforts in favour of Water for All.
FIOH-Liberia water
and sanitation programme is based on past experience and the present
situation in the country and takes into consideration general geological
conditions. In general, each of the planned three projects will include
the following major activities:
1) development of water points (springs, hand-dug wells, boreholes or
a combination of these);
2) training of community members on the utilization and maintenance
of the scheme;
3) establishment of gender balanced committees for maintenance and operation;
4) mass education on water and sanitation;
5) construction of model latrines;
6) undertaking of water laboratory tests, hydrological surveys, and
mass education on environmental and
7) ground water protection, soil conservation and reforestation.
In order to ensure
the sustainability of the project, emphasis will be given to high community
participation throughout the various stages of the project cycle, from
the inception to the monitoring and evaluation phases. Each party (the
community, the implementing agency, and the concerned government body)
will know their duties and responsibilities from the beginning and are
prepared to take over the project. Various initiatives will be established
to mobilize the community and raise funds, which will be used to keep
the programme running.
Support for FIOH
Liberia helps make this programme possible.
