Sierra Leone faced serious humanitarian crisis during the eleven years of civil war, where lives, personal properties and social infrastructures like health facilities, schools and water and sanitation facilities were discriminately destroyed. Water and sanitation facilities within the country are extremely poor and are grossly inadequate for a living status of a larger population. The estimation of Sierra Leone population access to safe water is less than 34% and to sanitation less than 12%. Sierra Leone is still beset by infectious diseases including tetanus, typhoid, diarrhea, cholera and the worst of it all Ebola that that has led to numerous deaths. This inadequacy and lack of proper care has posed dwindling impacts among vulnerable people.
Our organization is very much concerned about this poor living condition and intends to foster low cost technologies to make available water and environmental sanitation facilities to the population. Increased community participation in program activities will be promoted where community members will be trained to manage their facilities. Hundreds of wells and hand pumps constructed 5 – 12 years ago are damaged and needs repairs instead of constructing new ones. Chlorination activities of both non-traditional and traditional water sources will be vigorously pursued with the training of well owners and Blue Flag Volunteers to prevent outbreak of diarrhea diseases.
In an effort in achieving the above measures, The Needy Today is ready to work in cooperation with other NGOs, networks, foundations and volunteers to increase access to safe drinking water supply in selected communities, schools and Public Health Units in the rural poor unnoticed; provide access to proper hygiene and sanitation facilities within communities in the selected environments; promote positive hygiene practices to enhance healthy lifestyles especially in institutions and poor health underdeveloped communities; and prevent the incidence of water burn and transmitted diseases.
For us to achieve and continue to implement proper water and sanitation measures, we ought to be attaining the following: Construction materials for wells, submersible pumps, generators and pumps with accessories, equipment and machinery; GI and PVC pipes, fittings and accessories; Manufacturing of low-cost hand pumps for communities; Capacity Building and training of hand pump mechanics, School teachers, Youths, Community members etc; Construction of low cost latrines; Social Mobilization; Chlorine powder, Water Quality Monitoring System and Chlorination; Develop community framework, undertake comprehensive assessment and; Technical assistance and consultancies.