The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will this Friday, December 20, 2024, formally turn over a modern water facility worth over eighty-three thousand United States dollars ($83,711.82) to the Donfah Community in Yellequelleh Administrative District, Bong County

It is part of efforts under the Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP), a flagship programme co-funded by the Government of Liberia and UNDP. The modern water facility serves as a source of safe and clean drinking water for the Donfah community which has an estimated population of a little over two thousand (2,000) inhabitants. 

The water infrastructure is equipped with a solar system that provides clean energy services daily to maintain the flow and distribution of water to the various water points/kiosks. The facility also has a chlorination unit that purifies the water before it is distributed. 

The construction of the water infrastructure will address health-related issues of water-borne diseases that the community has suffered over the years because of fetching and using water from contaminated sources such as creeks.

The Interim Manager of the ACDP Boye Johnson, says the water facilities will be used for irrigation and will address the challenges communities face in accessing safe drinking water. 

“The facility is centrally and strategically located in the community. It will reduce security issues for women and children vulnerable to gender-based violence while traveling long distances in search of safe drinking water and are at risk of being attacked and violated,” Johnson noted. 

The ceremony takes place in Donfah Community, Bong County. Government officials, Development Partners, CSOs, and local officials of Bong County are expected to grace the occasion. 

 Donfah’s water facility is the first of five ongoing multipurpose water infrastructures to be completed. Construction of the remaining four water infrastructures is ongoing and two are expected to be handed over to Mardina and Totoquelleh communities in Gbarpolu County in early January 2025.

The remaining two facilities being constructed in Rivercess (Yarkpah town) and Gbarpolu (Bopolu) are expected to be completed and handed over by the end of February 2025. The combined total cost of all five water facilities is over three hundred thousand United States Dollars ($388,641.23).  

The ACDP is an initiative of the Government of Liberia launched in October 2022 to address the real and pressing needs of the people of Liberia. Its primary goal is to reduce or eliminate poverty and inequality amongst rural poor populations by investing in agriculture, water, sanitation and hygiene, energy services, health and education, and infrastructure.

The five-year programme, which is put at one hundred million United States dollars for the first three years 20222-2025, is implemented by UNDP. It is expected to have an immediate impact on reducing poverty while accelerating socioeconomic development in rural communities. 

The programme also aims to help strengthen human capital and resilience to shocks and pandemics and facilitates the implementation of the new national development plan (AAID) to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.