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
Large sums of money allocated to five metropolitan assemblies in 2010 under the Second Urban Environmental Sanitation Project (UESP II) were used to pay consultants rather than for the project, the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) learnt yesterday.
A number of people at Sang, capital town of newly created Mion District in the Northern Region have expressed worry about the lack of potable water and very limited access to sanitation. The situation is likely to aggravate during the coming harmattan season if swift and special attention is not given to the predominantly farming community. Water is so scarce that the people share the resource in the local dam with animals.
The 38th edition of National Level Learning Alliance Platform hosted the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) together with Water and Sanitation for Africa (WSA),to share on the theme, "Modelling Sanitation Learning Agenda for Evidence-based Bridging of the Policy-Practice Gap in Ghana"
WASHCost - a US$ 14.5m, five-year project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and implemented by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) - has been a bold, global attempt to gain accurate knowledge on disaggregated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) costs in rural and peri-urban areas.
Mr Benjamin Arthur, Executive Secretary, Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), has appealed to traditional authorities to use traditional values and custom to promote sanitation.
He appealed to them to revive cultural values which made open defecation a taboo to help reduce the practice in the country.
Mr Arthur said this at a day’s seminar for selected “community champions” in the Volta Region on scaling up improved sanitation services through the use of social norms.
The 37th edition of the National Level Learning Alliance Platform (NLLAP) hosted the Water Directorate of the Ministry of water Resource Works and Housing under the theme
"Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan for WASH in Ghana". The platform also hosted the Water and Sanitation for Africa to launch the GLASS 2012.the event took place at the coconut Groove Regency Hotel Accra,on the 12th of September 2013.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Professor (Mrs) Esi Awuah has stated that lack of knowledge in the WASH sector, coupled with corruption and nepotism has been the cause of poor service delivery in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector in Ghana.
Kotei, a dual faced community within the Kumasi Metropolis has been beneficiaries of the Water and Sanitation for Urban Poor (WSUP) initiative since 2010. The Community is two-faced because one part of the town is rural and lacks basic social amenities, whilst the other side is the exact opposite of this with well laid out environment.
WSUP, a United Kingdom based non-for-profit company is a partnership organization made up of partners from the Academia, private sector and NGO. WSUP Work with local service providers, thus agencies and institution mandated by the constitution to deliver service at the community level. WSUP is therefore working with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), to provide improved and dignified sanitation services delivery to the people of Kotei community.
Mr Joseph Yaw Donkor of the Waste Management Department (WMD) of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has hinted that the Assembly would ensure that landlords provide toilet facilities in their properties to raid the city of filth.
This he said, would be done through intensive education and sensitisation on sanitation issues.
Mr Donkor gave the assurance on Thursday at the Noda Hotel in Fumesua, near Kumasi at the 24th Mole Conference organised by the Coalition of NGOs In Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS).
Although several sanitation technologies and financing options are available to Africa, credible business models to take advantage of these are non-existent.
Further, even though demand-led approach to sanitation looks very promising, it is plagued by limitations and lack of knowledge in terms of context, scale and sustainability, while too little attention has been given to on-site sanitation, despite the fact that about 80 per cent of Africa’s population relies on this.
The Senior Presidential Advisor, Paul Victor Obeng, yesterday, August 14, 2013 opened Ghana’s longest running water, sanitation and hygiene conference at Fumesua, near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, with a call on the about 140 participants to focus on building new coalitions of those who are willing to change the country’s fortunes.
To him, such action will enable appreciation of Ghana’s limitations, codify the country’s sanitation challenges and apply appropriate technologies to improve access to sanitation services.
KUMASI (Ghana), Aug. 14 (MOLE)-- The 24th Mole Conference opened in
Kumasi on Wednesday with participants putting the need for scaling up
sanitation coverage in the country under the spotlight.
The three-day conference which was opened by Senior Presidential
Advisor, Paul Victor Obeng had all the main speakers acknowledging
the slow performance in the sector, calling for stronger
collaborations among the stakeholders to scale up Ghana’s performance
in sanitation delivery which is the Millennium Development Goal-seven (MDG-7).
At the top of the priorities list of the Ministry of Local government is the issue of sanitation, sector minister, Akwasi Oppong-Fosu has said. Delivering his address at the opening of the three-day 24th Mole Conference in Kumasi on Wednesday, the minister said sanitation will form the basis on which his tenure of office would be assessed.He said the bulk of the work will however be done by the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) as the various localities fall under their jurisdictions.
Fumesua (Ash), Aug. 14, GNA – Mr Paul Victor Obeng, Senior Presidential Advisor has called on stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to be bold in putting themselves in check if there has to be improvement.“Call yourselves to order, be prepared to name and shame the non-performers”, he added
The 24th edition of the Mole Conference series (Mole XXIV) got off to a spectacular start on Wednesday, 14th August with women providing an unanticipated but vital direction to drive frank and witty discussions.
It was a rare day at Mole when the close of day came too quickly for many participants, who appeared tireless and still willing to continue discussions. In terms of numbers, it was all square as seven men and seven women respectively took to the speaker’s box. But it was the women who lighted up the day, creating an enabling environment for a hearty deliberation.
Fumesua (Ash), Aug.15, GNA – Mr Eric Opoku, Ashanti Regional Minister
has charged parents and guardians to encourage their children,
especially those of school going age on the need to start practicing
personal hygiene at home.
“Good hygiene practices must be encouraged to provide good health and
promote sanitation,” he added.
He gave the advice in a speech read for him by Mrs Vida Akyea,
Assistant Director of the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) at Fumesua near Kumasi at the Mole XXIV Conference.
The 10th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the General Assembly of the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) came off on Tuesday night as a precursor to the 24th Mole (Mole XXIV) conference.
A major decision taken by members was the unanimous selection of Mrs Mariam Don-Chebe of the Rural Women's Initiative for Development & Empowerment (RUWIDE) as new Vice Chair of CONIWAS.
The 24th edition of the Mole Conference series has opened in Kumasi, under the theme “Building Effective Partnership for Scaling-Up Sustainable Sanitation Services in Ghana”.
The three-day national conference was opened by HE John Dramani Mahama, the President of the Republic of Ghana. Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the president, Mr. P. V. Obeng, Senior Presidential Advisor reflected on the current level of access to improved toilets of 15% against the MDG target of 54% with just 29 months to go, and admitted that this was an indication that all was not well with our sanitation management.
The Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), has stressed that while Ghana’s sanitation problem is huge, it can only be tackled with close collaboration among all national stakeholders.
From Tuesday, August 13 to Friday, August 16, 2013, more than 100 experts and major players in Ghana’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector will converge in Kumasi for the 24th in series of the annual dialogues on Ghana’s WASH sector. The Mole conference series, which has become the number one multi stakeholder conference on water, sanitation and hygiene in Ghana, will this year be on the theme: ”Building Effective Partnership for Scaling-Up Sustainable Sanitation Services in Ghana”.
