What are the key challenges that WaterAid faces in Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone?
As of October 2009, Niger is suffering political and civil unrest due to the incumbent President changing the constitution. Work is currently slowed down while elections take place. It is unclear how this may affect work going forward, although so far protests and other unrest have not affected operations too adversely. In Sierra Leone and Liberia, the threat of resurgence in conflict is always a potential issue, and as such we must be mindful of the factors that caused the conflict in the first place and ensure that we do not do anything through our work that might exacerbate them. The high costs of living and operating in what are both grossly inflated economies are also quite prohibitive. In addition, we have chosen to operate in some of the most marginalised and difficult to reach areas, with very poor road links. Once again this will inflate our costs and also has the potential to slow down our work.
