MMDAs urged to familiarise with relevant WASH sector policies

Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been advised to familiarise themselves with all relevant sector policies and strategic documents in order to effectively deliver sustainable Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. 

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, who gave the advice explained that such documents were specifically developed by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to provide guidance to MMDAs and all relevant stakeholders.

“These include the Environmental Sanitation Policy, National Water Policy, Ghana WASH Sector Development Programme, Rain Water Harvesting Strategy, National Drinking Water Quality Management Framework, Rural Sanitation Model and Strategy, and the Solid and Liquid Waste Management Strategies,” she said.

Ms Alhassan was speaking at the launch of the 2nd edition of the Baobab District WASH Awards in Accra.

Event

Spearheaded by Global Communities, an NGO, in partnership with World Vision Global Partnerships and a consortium of NGOs, the awards scheme recognises local governments that have demonstrated strong commitment to prioritising and investing in WASH service delivery.

They will be assessed on indicators including leadership and coordination, regulation and enforcement, service delivery across sectors among others.  The award scheme is also a product of an initiative dubbed; “Enhancing WASH Activity (En-WASH) which is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to employ systems strengthening approach to facilitate access to and use of sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services and products in target districts. 

The launch brought together various stakeholders across the sector. Ms Alhassan also encouraged MMDAs to roll out comprehensive and sustained behaviour change interventions in their respective jurisdictions to promote positive behaviours, without which she said no amount of investment would. yield the desired results.

“Linked to the need for behaviour change, I also wish to encourage MMDAs to gazette and enforce their bye-laws and implement a zero-tolerance for water, environmental sanitation and hygiene offenses in the Districts,” the minister who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency added.

She further intimated recognising that active private sector participation will be crucial in the sector, her ministry was ready to work in partnership with other ministries and relevant stakeholders to create the enabling environment for increased private sector participation in WASH services delivery at the local level.

Partners

The National Director of World Vision Ghana (WVG),  Laura Cristina Del Valle lamented that progress towards universal access to improved sanitation and ending open defecation continues to be very slow, while a lot remained to be done to ensure universal access to safe drinking water in the country.

“WV believes that nothing can be more important to child wellbeing than access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene. I wish to emphasise that WVG and partners are ready to work with government departments, development partners, academic and research institutions and all other relevant stakeholders to accelerate access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation in the country.,” she added.

A Representative of Global Communities, Dominic Osei iterated that the awards would serve as a vehicle for the MMDA’s to attract investment from the private sector to support their WASH activities and such encourage the participants to take full advantage of the initiative and put their systems in place.

“We are hoping that at the end of this project, all the districts we are working with and the WASH sector as a whole will see major improvements and that most of the things that we are doing will become sustainable,” he added.