Mr. Minta Aboagye, the Director of Water at the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing (MWRWH) officially launched the 1.97m Euro African Water Facility pilot initiative for Ashaiman, Huni Valley, and Mankessim at the WASH House in Dzorwulu, Accra on February 23, 2010. This was under the theme, Improved Sanitation and Water supply to the urban poor in Ghana through Tripartite Partnerships. In a keynote address read on his behalf by Mr. Attah Arhin of the MWRWH, Mr. Minta observed that the TPP project is steadily growing from strength to strength since its inception. He commended the initiative and commitment of the Team leader and the project team. “I am confident that the project will continue to design many more of such appropriate initiatives which will result in lasting improvements in the performance of the sector towards the achievement of national and MDG targets” he added. Mr. Minta also paid tribute to the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Africa Water Facility (AWF) for their continued support to the Water and Sanitation sector in Ghana. He extended his appreciation to all development partners and civil society organisations who continue to support the sector, urging them to do even more. Mr. Minta congratulated the beneficiary communities and reminded them that their selection imposes a unique responsibility on them since opportunity for replication in other MMDAs will largely depend on the level of success they achieve under the pilot scheme. Eugene Larbi, the team leader for the TPP project gave an overview of the project touching on the project components, project risks, implementation arrangements and the tentative system specifications. He recounted that the TPP project has been actively running since 2008 with a grant funding provided by the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) which comprises of ICCO, A4A and SIMAVI; TREND and now AfDB/AWF. According to him the 1.97million Euro funding from the AfDB/AWF brings the total project budget to 3.1million Euro and extends the project lifespan from 3 to 4 years. Mr. Larbi named the project main partners as the Sector Ministries including the MWRWH and the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development (MLGRD); Sector Networks comprising PRUSPA and CONIWAS; Agencies like the PURC, CWSA and GWCL/AVRL; and others like NWP, IRC and Safi Sana Ghana. Mr. Larbi assured that even though the bulk of AWF support will go to infrastructure development, the project team will continue to channel more effort towards the learning, material development and pro-poor advocacy issues. He announced that learning structures like the Local Level Learning Alliance Platforms (LLLAP) and Steering Committees will soon be established in the pilot communities. He contended that this will involve beneficiary communities in decision making and project management processes throughout project implementation and beyond. The representatives of the beneficiary communities individually thanked the Donors for the support and TREND for choosing their respective communities. They collectively pledged their support and commitment to the pilot projects.