The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$155 million International Development Association (IDA) grant to support the Government of Ghana’s efforts to increase access to sanitation and water supply services.
It is also intended for the improvement of the capacity of government agencies to plan and manage natural resources more sustainably. According to a statement from the World Bank, the funds will support two of the Government of Ghana’s priorities: manage natural resources in a sustainable manner and bring improved sanitation and water supply to over 3.6 million people living in and around the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA).
participants at the just ended Water Integrity Forum (WIF) held in Delft, The Netherlands, together with partners of the forum, have called on governments, the United Nations (UN) and international organisations, the corporate sector and civil society to promote water integrity in their operations.
Maintaining that the costs of inaction are just too high to remain passive, the three-day forum which ended June 7, 2013 stated that although fighting corruption is an essential first step, it is not sufficient to deal with the issues of integrity.
The first ever forum on integrity in the water sector jointly organised by the Water Integrity Network (WIN), UNESCO – IHE Institute for Water Education and the Water Governance Centre (WGC), has found that water shortages in most countries are not due to resource scarcity but due to governance failures.
In a statement issued after a three-day forum on water integrity in Delft, The Netherlands from June 5, 2013 to June 7, 2013, the over 100 participants from 60 organisations cutting across all continents, agreed “Fragmented institutions obstruct accountability in a sector with high investment and aid flows, making it particularly vulnerable to corruption"
The Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has underscored the need for public-private partnerships to pool resources to solve the water and sanitation problems confronting the nation. He said GH¢443,250,000 was required by the government annually to improve water and sanitation.
Published last week, the final report of the UN High Level Panel (HLP) puts forward recommendations for post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre welcomes this timely and concise report as well as the broad consultation process upon which it was built.
The Triple-S Ghana project has concluded and is sharing a report of a baseline study on the status of rural water facilities in Ghana.The report presents a synthesis of the results of a baseline assessment of the status of service levels, service providers and support functions in three districts in Ghana.
The main objective of the report is to identify strengths and gaps in the provision of sustainable water services at service provision and district levels, particularly in terms of compliance with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) norms and standards for service levels, and service provider and service authority functions. A set of indicators was developed to assess and monitor sustainable service provision.
In just two years it will be time for reckoning, when countries belonging to the United Nations gather to compare notes on how they have fared in 25 years since they set targets for themselves with respect to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 1990.
From a high rate of 52 per 100 persons that used shared latrines in Ghana, the figure has dropped to 35 per 100 people, according to the 2011 Multi Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) report.
The first ever international forum on water integrity dubbed Water Integrity Forum, takes place in Delft, the Netherlands from June 5, 2013 to June 7, 2013.
Co-organised by the Water Integrity Network (WIN), Water Governance Centre (WGC) and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, the three-day conference is meant to address the need for extending the reach of water integrity action. Specifically, the main objectives of the forum are to take stock of progress in addressing corruption issues in the water sector, share knowledge, approaches and experiences, and build alliances to address integrity challenges in the water sector.
