Plans are on course to set up a Low Income Consumer Support Unit (LICSU) at the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), to exclusively deal with unserved areas in the country. The LICSU is expected to ensure that newly developed and unserved urban settlements are piped and connected to the pipelines of GWCL.
IRC and pS-eau, in partnership with ECOWAS, are organizing a bilingual seminar on Monitoring the decentralised delivery of WASH services in rural areas and small towns in West Africa from April 7th to 9th 2014 in Ouagagoudou, Burkina Faso. Designed in priority for stakeholders working in collaboration with local governments, this seminar will be an opportunity to share experiences in the field of monitoring WASH services at local level in West Africa. Register on Eventbrite to join the discussion.
The seminar on monitoring and evaluation of water and sanitation services in rural areas and small towns in West Africa will be structured around four themes:
Monitoring and evaluation to support local governments’ water and sanitationstrategic planning
Monitoring and evaluation to improve water, sanitation and hygiene services
Monitoring and evaluation to manage water and sanitation services
Monitoring and evaluation to regulate water and sanitation services
We are also interested in abstracts on related topics.
This is a bilingual seminar on Monitoring the decentralised delivery of WASH services in rural areas and small towns in West Africa in Ouagagoudou, Burkina Faso organised by IRC and pS-Eau. Designed in priority for stakeholders working in collaboration with local governments, this seminar will be an opportunity to share experiences in the field of monitoring WASH services at local level in West Africa.
The seminar will be structured around four themes:
Monitoring and evaluation to support local governments’ water and sanitation strategic planning
Monitoring and evaluation to improve water, sanitation and hygiene services
Monitoring and evaluation to manage water and sanitation services
Monitoring and evaluation to regulate water and sanitation services
but related topics are also of interest to the organisers.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 17 February 2014.
Development Partners (DPs) in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector are confident there is a good chance for improving Ghana’s sanitation situation through the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) model.
ACCRA, Jan. 14 – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has offered a grant of one million US Dollars to the Biofilcom, inventors and producers of biofil toilets to scale up to make the toilets available at cheaper cost.
WaterAid “an international non-profit organization transforming lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation”, has ended its first Regional Strategic Management Meeting in the Liberian capital Monrovia to discuss WASH related issues involving health and the way forward in continuing its support to the WASH sector.
The Resource Centre Network (RCN) Ghana hosted The NORST Project, implemented under the auspices of Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) and in collaboration with UNICEF led the discussion, with the objective of sharing the learning experience from the NORST project, which is implementing CLTS in Small Towns in the Northern Region of Ghana. Under the theme " Implementing CLTS in Small Towns: Looking back to inform our way forward".
An epidemic is looming in the Ada West District in the Greater Accra Region where some residents in many of the communities have resorted to indiscriminate defaecation because the public toilets are not usable.
Whereas some of them engage in 'free range' (defaecating in open spaces), especially around the public toilets, others parcel their faeces in black plastic bags at home and deposit them anywhere in their communities.
Counsellor of Development Canada, Dr. Cheryl Gopaul-Saikali has outlined three expectations development partners in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector require to achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on Sanitation. One of such indicators, to her, was bringing information from the field to the national level for inclusive discussion, adding that it would support the up scaling of sanitation.
Ghana's water availability figure of about 40,000 barrels for each person a year in 1960, going by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) figures, dwindled to about 10,178 barrels annually in 2013. This means there has been a whooping reduction of about 60 per cent of water that is available to every Ghanaian in the spate of 53 years.
The water and sanitation challenges are immense and require the mobilization of more funds, collaboration and mutualization of best practices. In this respect, WSA will be launching a fund to support various initiatives in water and sanitationat the on-going High Level Forum on water and sanitation for all.
According to the Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, HE Danial Komlan Duncan, who officially opened High Level Forum on water and sanitation in Abidjan, Africa cannot remain indifferent while seventy percent of hospital beds are occupied by persons suffering from preventable water and sanitation related illnesses despite the efforts being made by various countries. He said since such a negative situation limits the potentials of individuals in their contribution togrowth and development, “it is imperative to reverse this trend especially due to the rapid population growth in Africa that will cover 25% of the global population by 2050.” “This search for solutions undoubtedly requires the development of an African expertise to serve Africans,” said the Ivorian Minister for construction, housing and sanitation, Mamadou Sanogo.
A collaborative approach between the Ghanaian Government, civil society and business is essential to getting the Millennium Development Goal sanitation target back on track in order to improve the health and prosperity of women in the country. This call comes in a new report jointly published on World Toilet Day by the United Nations hosted organisation Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, international charity WaterAid and Unilever. The report is published on the first UN recognised World Toilet Day, which serves as a reminder of the 21.6 million people lacking access to an adequate toilet in Ghana, with devastating consequences in particular for the well-being, health, education and empowerment of women and girls in the country.
Wateraid Ghana, an international non-governmental organisation, has blamed Ghana’s sanitation crisis on the lack of will and commitment on the part of the government to deal with issues in the sector.
Speaking with a select group of journalists in Accra on Tuesday, on the current state of Ghana’s sanitation, the Country Representative of WaterAid Ghana, Dr Afia Zakiya, said, “A staggering 87 per cent of the population (more than 21 million people) do not have access to adequate sanitation.
A collaborative approach between the Ghanaian Government, civil society and business is essential to getting the Millennium Development Goal sanitation target back on track in order to improve the health and prosperity of women in the country. This call comes in a new report jointly published on World Toilet Day by the United Nations hosted organisation Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, international charity WaterAid and Unilever.
Representatives of Nima, Ashiaman, Ada and Mallam communities at a crisis talk on sanitation and hygiene, on Monday described the sanitary conditions in their localities as devastating and endangering human lives. They said open and indiscriminate defecation is rampant while open gutters at lorry stations and markets centres are choked with polythene bags stuffed with human excreta.
The 39th edition of NLLAP hosted with EHSD-MLGRD/ UNICEF, under the theme "DEBRIEFING AND VALIDATION OF GOG-UNICEF GENDER AND WASH ASSESSMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING GUIDELINES AND TOOLKIT" and WaterAid/ CONIWAS, on the theme "GOVERNANCE AND TRANSPARENCY FUND (GTF) PROGRAMME EVALUATION AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN GHANA".this edition took place on the 31st October 2013 at the Coconut Groove Regency Hotel Accra.
Thirty two pupils selected from the ten regions of Ghana have gathered in Accra on Tuesday to discuss their ambassadorial roles to ensuring that water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities are made available and used properly in their schools as well as communities. They are expected to practice whatever they learn about WASH during this period at their various localities and schools. These young delegates would be taught how to keep their water sources clean, proper washing of hands with soap and water and also do a simple test to check the quality of the water they use.
WaterAid Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, has hailed the declaration by the United Nations of November 19 as ‘World Toilet Day’, saying it will use the commemoration of the day to draw the attention of government to the gravity of the country’s sanitation problem.
“We’ll certainly be working with private sector, civil society organisations, academia and others to use ‘World Toilet Day’ to draw attention to governments of the enormous scale of the problem,” Dr. Afia S. Zakiya, WaterAid Ghana’s Country Representative said in a statement.
Head of Policy and Partnership at WaterAid Ghana, Ibrahim Musah has argued that observing hand washing with soap before eating and after using the toilet regularly could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention. It is also the most effective way to avert Disability-adjusted Life Years (DALYs) associated with diarrheal diseases. “Hand washing is also less expensive than immunization; for instance, one DALY requires investment in measles immunization anywhere from $250 to $4,500.” Mr. Musah added it would also reduce deaths from diarrheal by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter.
Daily water demand in Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) stands at 150 million gallons although Kpong and Weija treatment plants, the major water treatment plants serving the area, can only produce 93 million gallons a day. Currently, Weija produces 53 million gallons while Kpong generates 40 million gallons per day, creating a deficit of 57 million gallons, Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing said.
To assist facilitate the UN-Water Global Assessment and Analysis of Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS) implementation and country level consultations in Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO), is working closely with the Pan African Inter-governmental Agency, Water and Sanitation for Africa (WSA).
WSA will lead the country level process in Ghana and 19 other African countries where they have field staff, while WHO, would support the process through its own country offices in 10 more countries, to make the total 30
