On November 28, the Asutifi North District Assembly officially opened Kenyasi No. 1’s new water station as part of its Asutifi North Ahonidie Mpuntuo (ANAM) Initiative.
The project was jointly funded by the Assembly, World Vision, and Safe Water Network and is expected to supply sustainable safe water to 12,000 people in Kenyasi No. 1 and its surroundings.
The ANAM Initiative was launched in 2017 by the Assembly, IRC, and a few Conrad Hilton Foundation grantees to carry out a thirteen-year WASH Masterplan to support sustainable access to clean water, essential sanitation, and hygiene services within the district.
In an appeal to the populace, District Chief Executive Hon. Anthony Mensah remarked, “The work they are doing here is for us, the people of Kenyasi. Humans are in charge of metering and connecting the water. Let’s treat them with the respect they merit. If you think there are misconceptions, don’t go insulting them. Everybody wants water in their homes. The reports I am receiving sometimes are horrible.
In order to address water access difficulties in Kenyasi No. 2, he continued, “Work is ongoing to replicate a comparable scheme there. There will be independent water management teams in every neighborhood.
According to Jeremiah Atengdem (IRC), “Today’s commissioning is adequate evidence of the partners’ joint efforts working together through the ANAM collaboration to offer water services to the residents of the Kenyasi 1.” However, he informed the crowd that the initiative had been expanded to three new districts in the Ahafo Region, namely Asunafo North, Asunafo South, and Tano North, and that they were working with the districts, RCC, and the CNHF partners to achieve universal WASH services based on the positive lessons learned from Asutifi North District.
Dickens Thunde, the national director of World Vision Ghana, expressed his enthusiasm and thanks for the organization’s collaboration with the Asutifi North District Assembly and Safe Water Network in a message read during the ceremony. This is so that communities and children can have access to clean drinking water, the expert said. “Partnerships also entail information sharing and capacity building in designing and implementing market-based water supply solutions,” he continued.
He also expressed his gratitude to Safe Water Network for introducing the H2OME model, which is founded on small water enterprises’ principles, to World Vision Ghana staff members and the Asutifi North District Assembly.
In a remark made at the occasion, Joseph Sam Cherbu, the head of commercial services for Safe Water Network, stated: “…for the past ten years, Safe Water Network has invested in proving how to provide safe water and keep it running… We’ve just begun our trip when we launched a water station. The hard work still remains. That is, continuously giving the highest-quality, safest water while keeping the faucets open.
In his final remarks, Saamanhene of Kenyasi No. 1 and chair of the ceremony, Nana Anim Danquah, thanked the project’s partners and urged the station’s management to be diligent in their job. He continued, “Kindly notify folks in advance if the pump will be shut down for maintenance work so they may make other plans.
All connections use prepaid meters in order to assure the project’s viability.