Mr Festus Barfi Fofie, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Programme Director of Catholic Relief Service (CRS) Ghana, has encouraged the government to prioritise and allocate enough funds to the WASH sector to improve water and sanitation across rural areas.
He said this would help meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) six, which ensures access to water and sanitation for all. ‘Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and well-being,’ he added.
Mr Fofie was speaking at the National Level Learning Alliance Platform (NLLAP) to share and present data collected from the Integrated Community Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene Improvement Project (ICOWASH), to improve water and sanitation.
He said the project was to identify the strategies, best practices and insights following project implementation that would serve as a reference point and guidance for WASH stakeholders, communities, schools, health institutions and policymakers both in Ghana and globally.
He outl
ined some challenges confronting the WASH sector which included maintenance of WASH infrastructure, the perennial collapse of household latrines, the spiral effect of the recent economic challenges, faecal sludge management and widespread incidence of bird flu.
The project presentation indicated that effective collaborations with MMDAs, Ghana Health Services, Ghana Education Service and community structures were important for wholistic understanding of community challenges, complementarity of efforts and synergy.
Mr Fofie said the provision of advanced training to local WASH committees (WSMTs) was necessary to address maintenance and repair challenges.
He said local authorities forming partnerships with technical institutes and organisations to provide specialised training on borehole repairs and maintenance would build the capacity of the community WASH committee to undertake even some major repairs and maintenance.
‘There is the need for the introduction of sustainable faecal sludge management systems s
uch as treatment facilities that would transform the faecal sludge into organic manure for farming. This will have the dual advantage of addressing challenges with sanitation and farming, the predominant occupation in the project area,’ he added.
NLLAP is a WASH sector multi-stakeholder platform with the overall goal of improving sector learning and dialogue, offering learning, and sharing opportunities for sector players as one of the practical approaches to improve sector engagements.
Source: Ghana News Agency