Liberia Concludes Five-Day Workshop on Climate-Resilient Water Investment
The St. Paul River in Montserrado County, one of Liberia's principal water sources (file photo, illustrative of Liberia's water resources, not of the workshop described). Photo: Bethel. Anthony Chisom, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation and the African Union Commission wrapped up a five-day workshop in Monrovia aimed at building a pipeline of financeable water and sanitation projects as the country confronts flooding, drought and sea-level rise.
The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) and the African Union Commission (AUC) concluded a five-day technical workshop in Monrovia this week aimed at building a pipeline of "bankable," financeable water and sanitation projects for the country, according to the Liberian Observer.
The workshop, which drew roughly 30 participants from government agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National WASH Commission, WaterAid Liberia and other partners, covered institutional and technical financing gaps, climate vulnerabilities such as flooding and drought, stakeholder engagement, and nature-based solutions including wetland restoration. It concluded with a roadmap of next steps, though no specific project list or dollar figures have yet been made public.
The AUC delegation was led by Nyambe Harsen Nyambe, the Commission's Director of Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy. AUC Technical Advisor Mtitu Francis Meinrald told participants the initiative was not a one-off exercise. "We are not here for a one-time training," he said, citing continent-wide figures that around 400 million people in Africa lack proper access to water supply and about 700 million lack adequate sanitation.
Mohammed J. Massalay, a senior program manager with WaterAid Liberia, pointed to local pressures driving the effort, citing rising sea levels around Monrovia's West Point community and recurrent flooding in Clara Town. T. Wilson Gaye, LWSC's Deputy Managing Director for Administration, also took part in the sessions.
The workshop responds to a directive from African Union heads of state for member countries to develop climate-resilience investment plans aligned with the AU's Agenda 2063. LWSC and the AUC held a related capacity-building session earlier in the week, on September 15, ahead of this week's conclusion of the program.