Liberia
WaterAid began work in Liberia in 2010. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, occupying the bottom end of the Human Development Index. The vast majority of the population - 83% - live without adequate sanitation, while nearly a third of people lack access to safe water.
Liberia's long civil war, lasting from 1980 to 2003, severely damaged the country's infrastructure and economy, but efforts are now being focused on rebuilding roads, clinics, and schools, and expanding access to electricity, water, and sanitation. WaterAid is helping marginalized communities in the Grand Kru, Maryland and River Gee counties.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel Laureate, President of the Republic of
Liberia and WaterAid’s goodwill ambassador for water and sanitation in
Africa, wrote about how Liberia is improving the health of its people by investing in basic services such as water and sanitation in an Op. Ed., How American aid is lifting Liberia, published in the Washington Post in August 2011.
President Sirleaf was interviewed by Rose George about how sanitation programs such as WaterAid's are helping to rebuild Liberia for the Guardian article Dirty little secret: the loo that saves lives in Liberia in February 2012.