Monrovia – As part of our contributions to help stop the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus in District #8, Montserrado County and Liberia at large and to strengthen the Rule of Law during this global pandemic.
“We want to use this medium to publicly announce to the many residents of District #8, Montserrado County and people far away that we are on today, May 18, 2020 officially launching the ACCESS TO COVID-19 AND RULE OF LAW INFORMATION project at this time. The ACCESS TO COVID-19 AND RULE OF LAW INFORMATION project is being established to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and strengthen the Rule of Law in District #8, Montserrado County, Liberia. This project is expected to end June 30, 2020,” a statement from the group says..
The project, which is being funded by NAYMOTE-Liberia with support from OSIWA under its COMMUNITY ACTION PLATFORM AGAINST COVID-19 PROJECT grant, has setup a mini mobile phone calls and SMS center to support information sharing with residents of the district.
The call and SMS center will put out calls and sent out SMS to residents after every two days to make inquiries about the heath and security status of their communities, educate residents about COVID1-19 and the Rule of Law. It will also encourage them to contact the appropriate authorities or contact our center to report suspected COVID-19 case, report crimes and violence or request for ambulance service if there is a situation that needs medical or security interventions.
“We are appealing to community leaders to help encourage every resident of their community to make use of the call and SMS center numbers, regularly visit our social media pages for inquiries and interventions and also encourage them to follow all COVID-19 preventive measures and follow the rule of law in every situation. If residents call the 4455 number, the security number or the ambulance number and their call is not answered, they can call us right away so that we quickly communicate with some of the nearest numbers we have with us at our call and SMS center. Due to the limited fund and the 3pm mandate, the center will open after every two-days from 9am – 1pm. For the call lines, they would remain open every day (24/7), but would be slow in responding to incoming calls except during our opening scheduled dates, it would be fast in responding to incoming calls,” the statement from the Vulunteers Hub Liberia says..
We want to also appeal to individuals and institutions in the district and the country at large to help with the sustainability of the center as it requires financial and material resources to function properly. We need electricity at all time to keep the SMS system running, we need to feed and transport volunteers that are managing the center, we need internet, active call and SMS package to call and sent out text messages to more than 150 persons twice a week. The project grant which is LD$ 30,000.00 is not really sufficient that we can hope on to reach more people in the district by phone calls, SMS and social media. We are hoping that we will have support that would enable us have the center open 24/7 every week instead of 5 hours twice a week.
We highly extend our appreciation to NAYMOTE-Liberia for supporting our institution, the Emergency Medical Response, National Civil Society Council of Liberia and the Onside Football and Peace Network for their guiding role they are providing to this project.
What do to if a resident or community needs intervention?
1. Call 4455 to report suspected COVID-19 (COVID-19 Response Team)
2. Call 0776616137 to report crimes and violence (COP2 of Zone two, Depot two Police Station)
3. Call 0775588588 for ambulance service (Emergency Medical Response)
CONTACT US if you are unable to reach the above numbers
1. For Calling: 0880062596/0776312683
2. For Text Message: 0880062698/0777524696
When sending a text message to request for interventions, use any of these words in your message based on the situation:
• For COVID-19 suspected case, mention COVID19 in your text message.
• For ambulance service, mention ambulance in your text message
• For crimes and violence, mention security in your text message
God bless you all and God bless Mama Liberia as we go through this difficult time!
~THANKS~