Ghana's development aspirations are aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal 6, which ensures the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, is a challenge since in 2017 19% of the population did not yet have access to at least a basic level of water services and only 36% were using safely managed water accessible on the premises. Almost one in five (18%) of the population was still practising open defecation. Service sustainability has been further challenged by the large number of non-functional water systems.
The big climate change summit was due to be held in Glasgow, Scotland later this year but then COVID-19 came along, the conference centre was converted into a field hospital and the meeting was postponed. We will have to wait until November 2021 for the global community to make progress and agree on solutions to the climate crisis through that platform. But while we have to wait another year for stronger multi-lateral action, there are, as we discussed in our last Amplify, parallels in tackling COVID-19 and climate change and lessons to learn. All the current pain, stress and extra work in tackling COVID-19 may yet serve us well in adapting to the even bigger threat that is climate change.
National Development Planning Commission - NDPC in collaboration with IRC and partners is disseminating the findings and is further engaging relevant stakeholders on the stories starting with the launch of the Good Practice for WASH in Ghana booklet
The impact of COVID-19 has been unprecedented on all areas of peoples lives globally, on a scale barely imagined only a few months ago. From the ever growing infection rates and death toll as the virus travelled around the world, to the light it shined on the huge disparities of impact on different populations as, on the one hand, day labourers struggled to feed themselves and their families whilst in lock-down with no resources, whilst others hoarded toilet paper...
One innovation in Asutifi North has been the introduction of kiosks at water points where vendors sell a range of sanitation products. The kiosks not only provide shelter from the sun and rain but improve the livelihoods of water vendors and help to make water systems more sustainable.
Vivian Kumah has been the lead nurse in charge of the community health planning and service centre at Gambia No 1 for about four and half years – and getting water had been a problem for almost the whole of that time.
Some of the cleanest and smartest toilets in the whole Bongo district are found at Foe Community Health and Planning Services (CHPS). This community health post serves more than 2,280 people in four communities across an area stretching up to the border with Burkina Faso.
Pure water has become a powerful selling point for communities in the Wassa East district of Ghana, proving that people will indeed pay for water if they can be sure it is safe. Four years ago (2016), a little over half of the population of Wassa East (56%) in the Western Region had access to safe water, a situation the Wassa East Chief Executive, Hon. Wilson Arthur, described as “scary”.
IRC Ghana, an international think-and-do tank that works with governments, NGOs, businesses and people around the world to find long-term solutions to the global crisis in water, sanitation and hygiene services and integrated water resources management (IWRM) is looking for a dynamic, well organized and result-oriented person to fill the position of: Program Officer WASH.
As part of the war against COVID-19, Ghana has taken several actions: President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo established a coronavirus fund to alleviate hardship and donated three months of his own salary, while a separate 1.2 billion Ghanaian cedi (over $205 million) Coronavirus Alleviation Programme includes funds to pay for water bills for all Ghanaians for three months — from April to June — and to provide water tanker services to vulnerable communities.
On Thursday May 7, 2020, the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) in collaboration with the Resource Centre Network (RCN) and through the Watershed programme organized a webinar under the RCN National Level Alliance Platform (NLLAP) to discuss the role and response of Ghana’s Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the wake of the unfolding reality of Covid-19.
Every now and again the rich world has its nose rubbed in the true meaning of poverty. The coronavirus pandemic is but the latest example. We need to make sure it's the last. As I write, aid agencies around the world are trying to ramp up their reaction to COVID-19. Yet my fear is that all this frenetic activity may do little more than underline the brutal reality that there is really not a lot we can do at short notice. Or rather, that the meaningful work we can do, of reinforcing basic public health messaging and measures, is going to seem woefully inadequate.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the whole world, the Resource Centre Network (RCN) has postponed all face-face NLLAP meetings until advised otherwise. To cope with this and keep our community active, the RCN has launched an online learning platform to keep the doors of sharing and learning open in these unprecedented times.
The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has granted a product certification for the solar powered automated hand washing machine invented by a Ghanaian to encourage safe hand-washing practices. The product, manufactured by Mr Richard Kwarteng, a resident of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, enables individuals to wash their hands under running water without touching the tap or knob of the water receptacle
NAIROBI — As the World Health Organization echoes some of its key advice around preventing the spread of COVID-19 — washing hands regularly or using an alcohol-based rub — many are wondering what this means for people around the world with limited access to water.
Closure of Europe and high-income countries in peacetime may be unprecedented, but the war against preventable diseases such as COVID-19, cholera, polio, measles, and Ebola has long been raging for the 3 billion people who lack basic hand-washing facilities in their homes
The Department of Civil Engineering and the Regional Water and Environmental Sanitation Centre Kumasi (RWESCK) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in collaboration Resource Centre Network (RCN) held a workshop on 'implementing practical transition management for improving access to Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) services and groundwater self-supply'
I-San UK in collaboration with Resource Centre Network (RCN) are organised a National Level Learning Alliance Platform (NLLAP) workshop on “Evaluation of the User Experience of Container Based Sanitation Service of Clean Team Ghana”. I-San UK conducted a study on Evaluation of the User Experience of Container Based Sanitation (CBS) Service of Clean Team Ghana in Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.
Accra, Ghana, December 10, 2019 - IRC Ghana, WaterAid Ghana and Water4/ Access Development, in collaboration with their respective target District Assemblies - Asutifi North in the Ahafo Region, Bongo in the Upper East Region and Wassa East Municipal in the Western Region, jointly convened the second national learning exchange on district-wide initiative focused on strengthening strong local systems to deliver safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services for everyone.
It is an exciting day in Panaaba, a farming community in the Asutifi North District of the newly created Ahafo Region in Ghana. The people led by Nana Attakorah Amaniapong, a representative of the Chief of Panaaba, are gathered under a mango tree to welcome two guests from the Conrad Hilton Foundation; Vice President of Strategy and Programs – Marc J. Holley, and Senior Program Officer - Chris Dunston.
World Vision has launched a Schools Sanitation Solution challenge to encourage students to write an open letter to the President of the Republic of Ghana and to identify a major sanitation problem in their schools or communities.
The Resource Centre Network (RCN), in collaboration with WaterAid Ghana organized a national dissemination meeting on “Budget Tracking and Analysis of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Expenditure in Bongo and Kassena Nankana West Districts,” on Thursday, August 22, 2019 at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Accra at 9am. Find below synopsis of budget tracking and analysis of WASH expenditure in Bongo and Kassena Nankana West District.
The winners of the Dignified City Award, the last stage of the UK Aid-funded Sanitation Challenge for Ghana Prize, were announced on Wednesday 24 July 2019 at a grand award ceremony at the Marriott Hotel in Accra, Ghana. Nine Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) were awarded a total prize purse of £1,285,000 for excellence in the implementation of urban liquid waste management strategies and exploring inclusive partnership to influence innovations, expertise and investments in the target localities towards bringing transformational changes to city-wide sanitation service delivery.
