Empowering Farmers and Improving Access to Clean Water- Govt-UNDP Impact Rural Communities

Monrovia, Liberia; March 3, 2025: Across Liberia, the positive impact of projects supported and managed by UNDP in partnership with the government and other donors on local communities is evident. Through strategic interventions focused on agriculture, water, and sanitation, some of these projects are transforming the lives of rural communities, including those in Bong, Nimba, and Lofa counties.

Kpatolee Agriculture Cooperative in Felehla, Bong County, shares an interesting testimony of the success of the government-funded Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) through its Chairperson, Joseph Fahn. Fahn narrated a remarkable journey so far since the ACDP’s intervention managed by UNDP in the area, describing the interventions as significant and improving productivity through such a collaboration.

Fahn first recounted the role of ACDP/UNDP in the community, and the cooperative in general. Within a short time, we secured $20,000 from the ACDP and the UNDP program, to purchase land to construct a multipurpose office that includes our storage facility/warehouse. This was just the beginning of our journey towards growth, development, and sustainability,” he said.

Fahn also mentioned the leadership and skills training provided under the project that has helped the cooperative members to understand how to manage a successful and sustainable institution.

“This capacity-building support has been critical to empowering smallholder farmers, particularly in enhancing the cooperative management skills and agriculture practices. Moreover, farming equipment, including tractors, power tillers, and other tools provided by the project to improve our farming practices and mode of operation has also made a significant difference, bringing us to a better place now than before,” Joseph explained.

He said the cooperative is working on 30-acre farmland to be harvested by April 1st this year. “The Cooperative members put a lot into this farm, planting varieties of crops. Women, youths, the young, and old are fully involved. You see older women carrying bricks, fetching water, and working tirelessly, you won’t believe they are volunteers. We are passionate about what we do and the support from the government and its partners including UNDP makes us thrive,” Fahn continued.

The Kpatolee Agriculture Cooperative Chairperson said the cooperative plans to build a guest house to accommodate visitors during important events and ceremonies. “This will become a center for progress. After some years, this will become a hub for progress, and together, we can make it happen,” he optimistically stressed. Despite the gains, challenges remain unavoidable, as Fahn stressed the importance of conducting a comprehensive assessment to determine the additional support needed.

Water and Sanitation: A Game Changer for Rural Communities

In Donfah, another community in Bong County, Esther Giddings, chairperson of the Bong Kuka’tonon Farmers’ Multipurpose Cooperative Society expressed her gratitude for the ACDP/UNDP intervention, particularly the access to clean and safe drinking water. “We fetched water from the creek where we walked a distance from the town, so, when we were asked by the project what we needed, we chose a water facility, and it was constructed and turned over to us in late December 2024. Since then, we have stopped drinking from the creek, which was unsafe for us, “said Esther.

She explained that surrounding community members pay a fee for use of their water facility and women use the kiosks for small businesses. “Twelve women manage and operate the four kiosks as small businesses using a shift system. The fees collected from other villagers using the water facility and the amount put aside from the small business to maintain the facilities are strategies for sustainability. These women serve as security for the kiosks and manage the small businesses there. Money generated is given to the treasurer,” she narrated.

Ms. Giddings also mentioned that the project supports farmers, especially women. This cooperative has about 86 members with 3.2 plus hectares of farmland. Before the project supported us in becoming a recognized and legal cooperative, we were only involved in farm work to sustain the family due to a lack of support. With the intervention from ACDP/UNDP, especially with the supply of farming equipment, farmers are beginning to grasp the idea of growing more food to eat and sell,” Esther emphasized.

She said the supply of tools encourages them to move gradually towards mechanized farming methods. “We are no longer using our hands to cut down trees now that we have power saws on our farms. Access to water and farming equipment has helped improve our lives and farming methods. We harvested almost 300 bags of seed rice, and now supplying other farmers so we can have more. The challenge now is to train our members to use this machinery. As the Chairperson of the Donfah Community Cooperative, I would like to thank the ACDP and our partner UNDP for what they continue to do for us,” Giddings noted.

She said the cooperative dreams of building a marketplace and finding other ways of empowering women. “I have a big dream. As you can see, when one of the women is on shift to manage the kiosk, she sells her goods to save money and establish a bigger business”. Giddings concluded.

UNDP’s Interventions

UNDP’s Interim Manager of the ACDP, Boye Johnson says the project launched in 2022, targets approximately 34 to 37 communities across Liberia, identified as highly impoverished. “These communities were selected to benefit from interventions under the project utilizing US$3 million received from the government as part of a commitment of US$100 million to address the pressing

needs of rural communities,” Johnson disclosed.

During a tour of a few of the project sites in Bong, Nimba, and Lofa Counties by UNDP’s Resident Representative Aliou Dia, Johnson said with this funding, they have been assisting communities in forming cooperatives, with 14 established and fully functional across six counties including Bomi, Gbarpolu, Bong, River Cess, Nimba, and Lofa.

In addition to agricultural support, the UNDP has made interventions in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector by supporting the construction of solar-powered boreholes and water infrastructure in five communities as seen in Donfah, Bong County.

These boreholes, equipped with water towers and chlorination units, provide safe drinking water in rural communities. The beneficiary communities include Madina, Totoquelleh, and Bopolu in Gbarpolu; Donfah in Bong County, and Yarpah Town in River Cess.

He also disclosed that the project plans to expand water facilities to three additional communities this year. Beyond water access, the program has also contributed immensely to Liberia’s health sector.

In 2024, the Ministry of Health received seven ambulances for health centers in Bomi, Lofa, Margibi, Maryland, Nimba, River Cess, and River Gee to improve the country’s healthcare services and emergency response time.

The ACDP’s support of Liberia’s agriculture sector is also making a huge impact in rural communities, especially smallholder farmers, women cooperatives, youth groups, and marginalized communities, and providing mechanized equipment, including tractors and power tillers, to farming communities.

“Farmers are expanding their farming activities, with some cultivating as much as 164 acres of land in a single season, primarily producing rice. This progress aligns with the government’s goal of achieving food self-sufficiency, and UNDP sees this as a positive development for Liberia,” Boye noted.

In rural communities, access to clean water was previously a major challenge. Many women and children had to travel long distances to fetch water, exposing them to risks, including Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). Water facilities installed under the ACDP within target communities have alleviated some of these risks and now provide a reliable source of safe drinking water for the people.

Moving Forward

Looking ahead, the Interim Manager of the UNDP/ ACDP says the focus is expanding its interventions to new communities. “UNDP is working closely with its Resident Representative, to assess progress, consolidate achievements, identify challenges, and implement solutions to address those challenges.

Boye Johnson said mobilizing sufficient funding remains crucial to expanding interventions in hard- to-reach communities. “Our partnerships have been positive with local authorities and community leadership. UNDP maintains a strong working relationship with the Government of Liberia and remains hopeful that these partnerships will continue to grow, allowing them to expand, impact and reach more communities,” Johnson concluded.