Monrovia – In an effort to increase access to safe drinking water in Liberia, six thousand Liberians in the rural part of the country are expected to benefit from a Coca-Cola golden triangle program to provide clean and safe drinking water.
“Today I’m glad to let you know that additional funding will be given for the increase in access to water for 6,000 people in Liberia,” Dorcas Onyango, Director of Programs and Partnerships, Cocoa-Cola Africa Foundation said.
“The community has a liability to sustain what we have achieved together,” she said.
The Cocoa-Cola Africa Foundation Director of Programs and Partnership spoke at the launch of water and health projects and the celebration of women and children projects.
The Coca-Cola Africa foundation, business link humanitarian Aid, Global Communities, Plan International, Liberia Coca-Cola Bottling Company (LCCBC) and Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company joined community members in Monrovia to celebrate the official launch of the Bolstering Africa’s Resilience (BAR) initiative.
BAR, a program of the golden triangle Partnership Fund, came to fruition in 2015 in response to the aftermath of the Ebola virus and leverages the expertise of best in government, civil society and private sector partners to create a holistic and unified response to Ebola.
Through programs with a focus on water, health, economic empowerment, education and welfare of children who have lost their families, BAR is working to ensure long term regional, growth, prosperity and stability.
Program components include increase access to community water supply and sanitation services, business skills training and economic opportunities for women and youth, health system strengthening in partnership with the government and the reintegration of vulnerable children particularly orphans.
The BAR program has also been working with Business Link Humanitarian Aid which is geared toward empowering 1000 women and 500 children.
“To truly aid a community, we must be a part of that community,” said Seth Adu-Baah, Country Director of Liberia Coca-Cola Bottling Company (LCCBC).
Baah said with the BAR program, LCCBC is proud to have worked with business Link to provide women with the skills and means to empower themselves and help children affected by Ebola return to school through the generous support of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation.
“BAR is an example of key Golden Triangle fund that is making progress necessary by responding holistically to Ebola.” he added.
The CEO of Business Link Humanitarian Aid, Edwina Vakun- Lincoln, said her program has empowered over a thousand women.
“This is a partner that we are very proud of. Do you know what it means partnering with Coca cola, which is a worldwide brand? Partnering with such a big brand has created a platform for us from other institutions to trust us and this is our first big project.”
She said the process in selecting the women was a very competitive one. “We went from rural Montserrado to urban Montserrado to Margibi and we went to Bomi County.”
In 2015, BAR launched two programs with a local Liberian civil society organization, Business Link, to economically empower 1,000 women and to provide financial aid and mentoring support to 500 female students.
BAR continues to expand this impact by improving access to safe drinking water for over 61, 000 rural Liberians and supporting improved access to sanitation services and products for schools, communities and water and sanitation.
Madam Lincoln said in November a rural expansion process will be launched to empower women.
“We will be bring together several other partners to highlight what Business Link has done for the last three years in the country and what we hope to do as we go along.”
The Liberia Cocoa-Cola bottling company is a subsidiary of the Equatorial Cocoa-Cola Bottling Company.
It started in Liberia in 1949 with office in Harbel, Firestone, Margibi County, and later moved in 1978 to its current location in Paynesville. The company has grown over the years.