Scaling up Manual Drilling in Liberia
Together with ZOA the manual drilling sector is being developed and professionalized in Liberia. In 2009 and 2010 with funding of Aqua4all a first step was made to introduce manual drilling in Liberia, Monrovia as an alternative to the many unprotected and highly polluted shallow hand dug wells. This phase consisted of 3 missions being; a sector assessment, practical training on tools production and well drilling and a 3rd training on theoretical follow-up to 2 enterprises.
A second phase project was operational in 2015 and 2016 with funding from Unicef as part of the DGIS WCARO program to scale the initiative of 2009. A total of 8 enterprises are being trained in using the rotary jetting technique to improve the health and well-being of communities in Liberia, as well as to significantly reduce the costs for drilling of high quality wells. All enterprises will receive training in well installation and Geo-hydrology and business skills to manage their business. The program is being combined with a promotion campaign to prepare for a third phase in which quality control and tendering will be necessary. The latter is envisaged to be financed in 2017.
