12 February 2012: The African Water Facility (AWF) has approved a €1.2 million grant to the Monrovia City Corporation for a project providing access to sustainable sanitation and hygiene services to the urban poor in Monrovia, Liberia.

Benefiting over 70% of Monrovia’s population, the project will build capacity to undertake fecal sludge management in the urban slums of the city. It will also contribute to the construction and rehabilitation of sanitation infrastructure, which has been negatively affected by Liberia’s civil conflict.

The project will use a public-private partnership model, based on promoting community-based enterprises. It will make use of local management teams and local artisans to build the required septic tanks in order to drive job creation. The project will also boost farming in the region as the fecal sludge is used for fertilizer. It is hoped that the project will be scaled up and replicated in other urban areas in the country.

The AWF, an initiative of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), has been operating since 2006. It is hosted and managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The AWF aims to assist African countries in mobilizing and applying resources for the water and sanitation sector in order to implement the Africa Water Vision 2025 and meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). [AfDB Press Release] [AWF Website]