Preparation for the AfricaSan 3 conference:

Local stakeholders and government agencies met on 14 April 2011 at the Erata Hotel in Accra to agree on priority actions to get sanitation on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals target by 2015. The follow up workshop was organised by Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development with support from WaterAid in Ghana.

In July the African ministers will meet in Kigali, Rwanda, at AfricaSan 3 to review progress towards the eThekwini commitments on sanitation. The objectives of the conference are to present evidence and exchange learning, track country progress, review the commitments, present country actions, and advocacy to increase the profile of sanitation. The priority actions agreed at the workshop in Accra will be presented at AfricaSan 3 conference as part of Ghana’s country action plan.

Progress on the eThekwini commitments

The country progress report indicates the Ghana has made progress in establishing a sanitation policy, national plan, and increasing the profile of sanitation. Roles have also been clarified with the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate acting as the lead agency for sanitation and the National Environmental Sanitation Policy Coordinating Council provides guidance. A sector budget for sanitation was created and an allocation 0.5% of the GDP has been commitment for sanitation.  An ongoing challenge, however, is that Ghana does not have a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework.

 

Commitment #	Description	Year
		2009	2011
	Did they sign eThekwini, and who signed it?			YES. The Deputy Minister Of Local Government and Rural Development  signed it.
3a	Is there a national sanitation policy?			Yes, It has just been reviewed and has been approved by Government. Comments  and suggestions from Cabinet have been carried out in full to revise NESSAP (Sanitation policy and strategic plans).
3b	Is there one national plan to meet the target?			The national environmental sanitation strategy and action plan has been  developed and is the main policy document on sanitation Ghana .
4	What profile is given to sanitation within the ?			Ghana’s strategic development  framework ( MTDPF ) Shared growth and development Agenda contains key sanitation policies . It emphasizes the intrinsic link between sanitation and poverty reduction. The President’s M&E Unit has listed sanitation in its monitoring checklist which is used to assess government performance and level of commitment to implementing important manifestoes even at the district and community levels.
5a	Is there a principal accountable institution to take leadership?			The Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development the lead Government agency  provides responsible and accountable leadership on sanitation in Ghana.
5b	Is there one coordinating body involving all stakeholders?			Yes. The National Environmental Sanitation Policy Coordinating Council (NESPOCC) comprising all key stakeholders. There is a national technical working group created to facilitate coordination and also help set standards.
6a	Is there a specific public sector budget line for sanitation?			There is a budget line for sanitation  since  2009 budget.
6b	Is 0.5% of allocated to sanitation?			The 2011 sanitation  budget  about or < 0.2 %  (to be Verified)
8	Is there a sanitation monitoring and evaluation (M+E) system?			Arrangements to set up  an M&E system is has just been initiated and will not be ready in a while. (A plan to migrate sanitation components on to the DIMES,  Basically these cater to the rural  and small towns sub-sector only) .
	Do Institutional sanitation Programmes include Gender Aspects.			Individual institutions have gender responsive  sanitation policies and programmes but these are yet to pervasive and implemented across the sub-sector in Ghana.

 

Wealth Quintile Analysis

It is popularly known that only 13% of the Ghana population has access to improved sanitation, 45.5% of that is the attributed to the richest people in the community, and 40% poorest of the in Ghana lack access to basic sanitation.

 Source: UNICEF/WHO JMP, 2010 (UNICEF NY)

 

Sanitation coverage in the urban and the poor

The number of people who have access basic sanitation in Ghana has improved to 13% since 1990 when it was 7%.

	1990	2000	2008
Rural	4%	5%	7%
Urban	11%	15%	18%
Total	7%	9%	13%

Source: UNICEF/WHO JMP, 2010 .

 

Showcasing Ghana’s strengths at AfricaSan 3

Ghana will showcase its strengths through policy documents, successes in co-ordination and implementation and sector dialogue platforms. Other African countries can learn from these lessons in order to accelerate their own progress towards the MDGs.

At same meeting, the participants agreed on the official delegation from Ghana to participate in the AfricaSan 3. The delegation will be headed by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, the Director of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate, a representative from CONIWAS, and the Extension Service Secretariat of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency but other participants will be chosen to company the delegation.

Ongoing challenges

A country status overview score card was filled in by the stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector with an external facilitator and shows another picture of progress. The African Minister’s council on water, Ghana Country Status Overview score card shows that was a lot has to be done to move the sanitation agenda forward, there are still significant areas for improvement.

No.	Selected Indicators from GLAAS	Rural	Urban
1	Use of equity criteria	Not consistent	None
2	Policy Adoption and Implementation
3	Definition of institutional roles
4	Investment programmes
5	Budget Transparency	<50% of funds on Budget	50% of funds on Budget
6	Annual Review processes	No trends yet in 3 yrs
7	Education and Training	No Data
8	Human Resource Planning

 Source AMCOW Country Status Overview 2 report

Ghana Score Card and Priority Actions.( CSO 2)

Rural Sanitation:

	Enabling			Developing			Sustaining
	Policy	Planning	Budget	Expenditure	Equity	Output	Markets	Up-take	Use
	2	1.5	0	2.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	0.5	0.5

 

Urban Sanitation

	Enabling				Developing					Sustaining
	Policy	Planning	Budget		Expenditure		Equity		Output	Markets			Up-take			Use
	2	0.5	0.5		2		0		1	2			1		0.5

Source.  Source AMCOW Country Status Overview 2 report

At the workshop, questions about equity and the provision of services to the poor were considered. It was asked when NGOs primarily focus on equitable provision, Why is sanitation coverage so low? Mrs Theodra Adamoka Adjei the extension services coordinator of the CWSA attributes the lack of services for the poor to missing implementation of the equity principles in existing policy. She stressed that the previous strategy included subsidies for sanitation facilities but unfortunately only the rich in these communities were able to pay the 50% contribution required.

Another issue affecting urban sanitation is the rural-urban migration. The migrants living in unfinished structures or semi-permanent housing are not captured in the survey data. And yet they contribute to the challenge of open defecation in the city. As a result open defecation is probably under reported in the survey data.

Priority areas

Discussions identified the following priority areas for action in the sanitation agenda:

·         Information, education, and communication

·         Sustainable financing

·         Monitoring and evaluation

·         Capacity development

These did not completely match those from a previous meeting in Kumasi, which identified two other priorities areas in addition:

·         Scaling up Community-Led Total Sanitation

·         Advocacy

Based on discussions and existing analysis, the final decision will be compiled into the Ghana’s country progress report and will be presented by the Ghanaian delegation there. The water and sanitation sector in Ghana is seeking to improve services delivery the next few years by adopting a decentralisation policy, a sector strategic development plan and a sector wide approach are being develop to increase harmonization, coordination of sector activities, plans , approaches. This will go a long way in increasing efficient utilization of investments into the sector by agencies complementing each other rather than competition.