Liberia Emergency and Disaster Relief Fund, LEADER FUND, plans to implement a green infrastructure project that uses 3KW of solar energy to: access and distribute groundwater for drinking, sanitation, and hygiene to 10,000 persons; irrigate a small agriculture demonstration project growing food crops (pepper, okra, bitter balls, potato greens, etc.); and provide electricity for the County Service Center and planned Internet Cafe that will benefit more than 2,000 youths.
The community is challenged with lack of running water and sanitation; lack of electricity, and lack of nutrient dense food. There is no grid electricity in Cestos City, Rivercess. The city basically shuts down at night. Women and children spend an inordinate amount of time fetching water. There is no public sanitation house with running water in the community. Additionally, fresh nutritious vegetables and crops are not available for purchase at reasonable prices.
This project will impact the community greatly and serves as a decentralized development model that can be implemented across Liberia. This model integrates the nexus of energy, water, and food. It allows students an opportunity to study at night and the administrative building to have electricity during the day. It provides public water directly into the communities and for the public sanitation house. It also produces nutrient dense vegetables at reasonable prices for community members.
This is a sustainable project that will benefit the community for more than 20 years with little maintenance. It provides running water, better hygiene, and the erection of a sanitation house will ensure open defecation is decreased. Students will have more study time and the County Service Center will provide more services. The project will reduce diseases and provide improved health for families. It will train at least at least 20 community members on implementing and managing the system.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
