By: Peter Dennis
Desk editor

IPNews-Bong County: The Community Solutions Aid (CSAID) has concluded the production of soap through phase three of its Rural IronSoap Project in Bong County.

The CSAID Rural Iron Soap Project according to its Founder and Executive Director, Peter Nufiquoi Dolo, is a social enterprise project intended to ensure sanitation in rural communities through the production and distribution of Soap at an affordable cost.

Dolo maintained that phase three of the project will benefit over 700 rural dwellers in Baila and Gbeneeta communities in Bong County.

According to the CSAID Executive Director, the non-profit organization produced a little over 850 pieces of soap to achieve its social enterprise project goal.

As Liberia continues to fight against COVID-19, the CSAID boss echoed that this phase of CSAID Rural Soap project is mostly designed to assist rural dwellers maintain sanitation and improve hygiene amid the global pandemic through access to affordable soap.

“The social enterprise project is expected to raise a little over 14,000 Liberian dollars which will be reinvested to support the programs of the organization in the country” he disclosed.

It can be recalled in 2017, the Project started as a pilot initiative in Gbarnga City and later extended to Gbeneeta Community in Kpai District, Bong County.

The success of the pilot in 2018, according to Peter N. Dolo, led to the extension of the project to Sokopa, a rural community in Nimba County including Baila, another rural town in Bong County.

The CSAID Executive Director who is also an African Future Leader Fellow, a G20 – Young Global Changer in Liberia and an alumnus of the Bridge for Billions Incubation Program for early stage entrepreneurs warned that building a sustainable nonprofit organization in a Liberian society requires the incorporation of social enterprise programs that enable an organization raise funds locally to reinvest in its programs.

Speaking to this paper recently in Gbarnga, Mr. Dolo admonished other local organizations to incorporate entrepreneurship in their system of programming to ensure sustainability and reduce much dependency on donor aid.

“Local NGOs in Liberia are witnessing an adverse global economic era leading to donor scarcity in supporting essential local initiatives. Thus, if we are to remain committed to our diverse missions all geared toward enhancing community development as local organizations, there is need to incorporate social entrepreneurship in our systems of programming to ensure sustainability and reduce the too much pressure on donor funding”, Mr. Dolo cautioned.

The Community Solutions Aid is a registered Liberian nonprofit organization that has been engaged in the fight against the novel corona virus through COVID-19 sensitization and the charitable distribution of sanitation materials including Hand-washing buckets, soap and hand sanitizers in Bong County, central Liberia.

Established as a post crisis initiative to help Liberians rebuild their lives, the mandate of CSAID is to become a paragon of community development and an architect of vibrant and resilient communities that offer zero tolerance to poverty and social inequality.