Liberia

The recent sharp rise in food and fuel prices had a huge impact in Liberia, particularly on the poorest people.

Concern continues to focus on improving incomes and access to food, water and sanitation. On a visit to one of our farmers’ resource centres, President Ellen Johnson congratulated us for our contribution to her country’s recovery. 

Returning home

Five years after the official ending of the civil war, many formerly displaced people have returned home. We continue to provide water and sanitation infrastructure for the large proportion who remain without access to basic facilities.

Solving problems

We have established a fourth farmers’ resource centre, where farmers learn how to solve local agricultural problems using locally available materials. We ran 38 Farmer Field schools which delivered training to 760 farmers, in the community and on their own fields. We also provided advice, technical follow-up and seminars for a further 3,500 farmers.

Clean water

8,740 people gained access to better sanitation through the construction of 296 latrines. We have improved access to clean water for 134,500 people, with 72 new tap stands and 106 new and rehabilitated wells. We helped communities establish water and sanitation committees, to manage their environmental health and facilities.  

We also trained local community members to be pump mechanics. They can now undertake minor repairs when pumps break down. We are in the process of establishing local spare part dealerships to enable communities to replace broken parts. 

Urban areas

In urban areas, we built eight footpath bridges, giving island communities safer, faster and cheaper access to main facilities. We also provided skills training for 205 people and ran adult literacy courses for 248 people from four slum communities.

Markets

We have improved access to markets and other services for more than 74,980 people. This involved building and rehabilitating 21 culverts, seven bridges and 69km of earth roads.