In 2011, a comprehensive government-led Water Point Mapping exercise was carried out with support from key government WASH sector partners, the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) of the World Bank, UNICEF, USAID, and other WASH NGO partners. The exercise was technically led by the Ministry of Public Works through the National Water, Sanitation, Hygiene Promotion Committee Secretariat (NWSHPC), which resulted in the production of the Liberia Water Point Atlas.
During this 2011 exercise over 10,000 improved water points nationwide, including Counties, districts, clans and communities were mapped during this exercise. This was the first time that a complete map of water points in Liberia had been made available.
According to the water point mapping report in 2011, the breakdown rates were high: among the pumps built in 2010, 15% were already broken down during 2011 mapping survey. The report further indicated that of the over 10,000 improved water points in Liberia, only 60% were fully functional throughout the year. Over 800,000 Liberians are entirely uncovered and over 2 million lack adequate access to water then.
Additionally, Liberia WASH Consortium Irish Aid5 project Baseline KAP survey conducted in five (5) rural counties, Grand Cape Mount, Lofa, Rural Montserrado, River Cess and Sinoe in December 2015 indicated that 100% of schools with Improved Water Points are also used by the community. This puts additional pressure on Water points in schools, consequently leading to the high rate of breakage and rapid depletion of existing schools’ water points.
Sustainability of Water points and the real-time updating of water points’ data has been a major concern for the Liberia WASH Sector. As mitigating steps to ensure the sustainability of water points, the Liberia WASH Sector developed and signed a sustainability compact in 2016, for use by sector partners.
Since 2011, additional thousands of new water points have been constructed but no exercise has been carried out to update or follow-up on the status of the over 10,000 plus water points previously surveyed. Based on the frequency and unacceptably high rate of water point breakdowns, it’s estimated that at least 50% of the over 10,000 and more water points surveyed in 2011 are now non-functional. Therefore, updating the over 10,000 water point data collected in 2011 and getting first-hand information on issues affecting the sustainability of water points was a priority.
The objectives of the 2017 nationwide water point mapping were to:
- Provide information on key Water point indicators which will serve as a baseline for all stakeholders. This information, will among others, illustrate:
- summary of water points covered at county level – percentage of water points covered at the district level;
- Country coverage: District level analysis of partner presence (Where) as at the time of the assessment
- Water sources: Status of completion, planned or ongoing construction /rehabilitation works; functionality status of established systems; operational status of established facilities;
- Spare part depots: places where water point spare parts can be accessed.
- Comprehensive mapping of all water points data (both national and subnational to enrich the National WASH-MIS Dataset) which is now translated into 4W (WHO is doing WHAT WHERE and WHEN)
(ii) The operation, sustainability and management modalities/structures/focal persons of Waterpoint systems (schools, health facilities, districts, counties, and national levels)
- Assess the presence and appropriateness of coordination mechanisms at all levels (district, county, national).
- Produce comprehensive and updated water points from 2011 and visualized report of existing functional and non-functional improved Water points
- Produce a comprehensive and up-to-date water point atlas that will be continually updated under the supervision of the water point mapping taskforce.
- Produce a comprehensive and updated report that will inform the planning of investments to improve water supply coverage
- Allocate resources to deliver basic services where they are most needed
- Promote increased investments in the sector as well as to measure progress and performance
Organization
The Water Point Mapping Steering Committee provided oversight to the 2017 Mapping exercise. The National WASH Secretariat facilitated the process leading up Mapping of water point in the 15 counties
- Based on experience, the assessment was facilitated by National WASH Secretariat. The Assessment team executed the tasks under the overall supervision and guidance of the Assistant Minister (Community Services), MoPW, who was the Assessment Team Leader.
- Water Point Mapping Technical Committee (WPMTC) guided the policy during the project implementation. MoPW’s main role, as the Lead Partner, coordinated the whole process and retain ultimate responsibility for all project deliverables as per the assessment objectives.
- The Water Point Mapping Technical Committee (WPMTC) was responsible for overseeing the fieldwork and data collection. Through this, the integrity and quality of the end-products will be enhanced since both are conversant with the operations of WASH agencies in Liberia.
The assessment was conducted in all counties in Liberia. A total of 286 enumerators that are locally based was identified through the Water Point Mapping Technical Committee (WPMTC) and trained for data collection purposes.
The field data collection sub-team structure:
- County WASH Teams – Monitors
- EHTs and Pump Technicians – Supervisors
- Field enumerators – (hired)
The data processing sub-team had the following structure:
- National Water Sanitation Hygiene Committee (MoPW)
- Liberia WASH Consortium (LWC)
- Database Assistants (LISGIS)
- Akvo Flow Foundation
The water point sustainability team responsible for repairing water points and updating water point data respectively will consist of:
- County WASH coordinator
- County pump technicians
- EHTs
- District Education Officer (DEO)
- WASH Service delivery partners
A final report of all the findings from the fieldwork was prepared by Akvo Foundation with overall supervision from MoPW, MoH, MoE, LISGIS, LWSC, MCC, MoGCSP, MoFDP, MLME, EPA circulated to key informants for comments after consultations with the WPMTC. A final report was prepared and digitized by Akvo Foundation
Akvo Training
- Expected Participants
Participation at the Akvo training primarily targeted subnational team, line Ministries technician and WASH partners
- Objective
The overall objective of the training was to introduce the new Akvo application and train participant the updating water point data platform.
- Expected Output
- The participant knew how to update water point data to the dashboard
- The new app was installed on phones that can be used for updating water point data to the dashboard
- Comprehensive list of service delivery partners in the counties.
After several reviews of the draft report, the WASH Secretariat along with key sector stakeholders Launched 2017 Water Mapping Report on September 20, 2018, at the Ministry of Public Works.