Montserrado County is blessed with beautiful natural plains, fertile soils, lush natural vegetation, islands, ample rivers and gorgeous beaches. The County is home to approximately 1.5 million people, corresponding to almost half of Liberia’s entire population. About 70% reside in the capital, attracted by urban life, commercial business and government jobs. The County is highly diverse with members of all of Liberia’s 16 tribes living together.

Due to the country’s capital being located in the County, Montserrado was particularly affected by the conflict. To this day, most of Montserrado’s basic infrastructure remains damaged and basic social provisions are to a great extent grossly inadequate, particularly in the rural areas. After the war, the County has been the host of about 60% of IDP and returnee camps and a center for ex-combatants and deactivated security forces seeking new ways to make a living.

Provision of basic social services was greatly affected by the war, as the schools, clinics, the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant in Harrisburg Township, and the water treatment facility in White Plains were either looted, damaged, or destroyed.

Proper health care and education had been mainly centered in the capital prior to the war, an imbalance that is even more obvious after the war, where people in rural Montserrado still walk long distances to reach education and health facilities. In spite of some recent gains, the water and sanitation infrastructure is grossly inadequate, with some 518 hand pumps (NRC, 2007) serving a population previously served with pipe-borne water from the White Plains water plant, and a virtually nonexistent sewage system.