Five counties in Liberia have jointly signed a resolution to end open defecation in their respective areas under a USAID-sponsored Countywide Sanitation Activity.
The project is implemented by Population Services International (PSI), Concern Worldwide, ATHENA Infonomics, and GUSCEMAN Inc., Excellence for Growth and Prosperity Business Development and Support Services.
The counties include Lofa, Grand Bassa, Bong, Montserrado, and Nimba, with the aim of enabling households to have access to the end of open defecation.
The Countywide Sanitation Activity focuses on areas such as sanitation, governance, sanitation, and marketing.
The Deputy Chairperson for the National Civil Society Organizations in Liberia, John Alexander Nyahn, Jr., who read the resolution, said the five counties have resolved to include sanitation financing in their respective development plans and budgets, which will enable them to end open defecation.
Chairman Nyahn said the joint resolution also focuses on 2 to 5 percent of all annual funds and stressed that income generated from each county be allotted to support and promote sanitation projects and activities in collaboration with sanitation partners and stakeholders to develop policies and guidelines that will promote and sustain the enhancement of adequate sanitation in Grand Bassa, Lofa, Bong, Montserrado and Nimba counties to end open defecation permanently in Liberia by ensuring strict compliance with the tenets of inclusion, transparency and accountability in the execution of sanitation projects.
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Addressing participation in Ganta during the three-day Final Resolution adoption and area-wide sanitation planning at Jackie Guest House in Ganta, USAID Chief of Party for Countywide Sanitation Activity Matthew Ndote urged participants to be focused and get involved in ending open defecation in their various homes and counties.
He also encouraged them how to improve sanitation in the various counties.
Mr. Ndote told the participants from all five counties that 64 percent of Liberia's population still uses open defecation. They disclosed that 98 percent of the funding provided comes from non-governmental organizations, and the Government of Liberia has not expressed interest in the fight to end open defecation in the country.
Also Speaking, Nicore Rock, County-Wide Sanitation Activity Athena Infonomics, urged the involvement of all Liberians in ending open defecation in various countries.
She said the exercise needs the involvement of government alongside the citizenry to end the practice.
Lofa County Senator Momo T. Cyrus, pledged his support for the five counties that have taken the lead.
He expressed disappointment that Liberia, one of the oldest African countries, still faces an Open Defecation program in the County.
The Lofa County lawmaker pledged to engage his colleagues in the Senate to support the executive in ending open defecation in the country.
"This is not a good thing to even be saying; Liberia is about 176 years old and one of the oldest countries still facing open defecation problem, which is not good for the county", he added.
