The Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) on Tuesday trained over 100 persons in Monrovia to upgrade water and sanitation hygiene (WASH) systems incorporating skills-based training.
The participants were drawn from Clara Town, the worst Ebola affected community, who benefited from training by community management teams and community-based enterprises on performance evaluation and management and operations of public toilets.
MCC Project Manager for Fostering Innovative Sanitation and Hygiene (FISH), Mrs. Yondeh Moore-Ilechukwu, has meanwhile challenged owners of community-based sanitary facilities to make proper use of the facilities.
The MCC initiated the CBE (community based enterprises) to ensure that various communities around Monrovia and its environs maintain proper sanitation and hygiene, said Moore-Ilechukwu.
CBE have people in the various communities who collect refuse from door to door and take them to the designated sites in their respective communities, she maintained.
She said in the past, other community dwellers were trained to manage public toilets in their neighborhoods to ensure that residents utilize the facilities instead of defecating in the open. “To curtail open-defecation that results in the spread of communicable diseases, government constructed several sanitary facilities, but those facilities have suffered poor maintenance particularly in Monrovia,” said Moore-Ilechukwu.
Tuesday’s training was sponsored by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Habitat for a Better Urban Future, Global Ebola Response and International Labor Organization.
Meanwhile, the WASH Specialist at UNICEF, James Massaquoi, said the upgrading of water and sanitation systems will be extended to communities including the Doe Community, New Kru Town and West Point Township.
Mr. Massaquoi underscored the importance of water and therefore called on the participants to develop the culture of maintaining and using safe drinking water.
Spokespersons of the participants promised to also train other community residents about the importance, usage and maintenance of sanitary facilities.
