11 April 2013: The African Water Facility (AWF) launched the “Fostering Innovative Sanitation and Hygiene (FISH)” project in Monrovia, Liberia, on 10 April 2013. The project aims to increase access to affordable, sustainable sanitation and hygiene services for over 800,000 urban slum dwellers who currently lack access to sewer systems.

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), Liberia’s civil war resulted in limited infrastructure maintenance and development, particularly in the sanitation and water sectors. The Government of Liberia has not provided fecal sludge sewer management services in Monrovia’s informal settlements, where 70% of the population lives since 2003.

The project will facilitate the construction and rehabilitation of sanitation infrastructure, implement a city-wide fecal sludge management system and enhance Government capacity to manage the sewer system.

In addition to increasing urban slum dwellers access to sanitation and hygiene services, the project is also expected to result in health benefits for local populations by reducing their vulnerability to water-borne diseases that result from open defecation and septic tank overflows. Furthermore, the project includes components to: promote community-based enterprises and management teams to build local ownership; involve local artisans in building the septic tanks to boost employment; develop an affordable crop fertilizer from collected fecal sludge to support local farmers; and develop a public-private partnerships to ensure coverage in areas not covered by the private sector.

Following the implementation of FISH, AWF and AfDB hope to scale up the project to cover all unsewered urban areas in Monrovia and throughout Liberia. AWF will provide a €1.2-million grant to the Monrovia City Corporation to implement the project.

AWF is an initiative led by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) to mobilize resources to finance water resources development activities in Africa. AfDB hosts the Facility on the request of AMCOW. [AfDB Press Release]