On Wednesday, August 24, the Asutifi North District Assembly convened a meeting with its constituents to welcome WaterAid as a new partner in the Asutifi North Ahonidie Mpuntuo (ANAM) WASH Initiative.
In order to promote universal access to clean water, essential sanitation, and hygiene services for approximately 84,420 people inside the District, the district and its partners launched an initiative to implement a thirteen-year WASH master plan in 2017. This was done in order to support sustainable development goal 6.
Since 1985, the NGO WaterAid has operated in Ghana. Their primary goal is to increase the use of WASH services by influencing funding for these services through policy research, lobbying, advocacy, collaboration with others to develop local and national systems, and our own direct contributions to new and improved WASH services.
The WaterAid WASH in Healthcare Facilities (HCFs) Project, which will be carried out in the Asutifi North and Wassa East districts for 12 months and is funded by the Conrad Hilton Foundation with a USD234, 000 grant, was also discussed at the meeting, which was held in the District Assembly Conference hall.
District Chief Executive, Honorable Anthony Mensah, stated in his welcome speech that “they are here to expand on to what we together with the other partners have already been engaged in. We should enlist more collaborators in order to meet our deadline, as it is stated that cleanliness is next to godliness.
In outlining the project’s anticipated results, the Acting Programs Officer Seyram Ama Asimah emphasized that they would be working to ensure a robust project response, develop the evidence base for policy advocacy work, mobilize civil and social accountability, and strengthen the capacity of policymakers to carry out their duties and give the project a global engagement.
The head of policy, advocacy, and campaigns at WaterAid, George Yorke, responded to questions about whether the initiative will build WASH facilities by saying, “Every donor has their interests. For the time being, this contributor has no interest in constructing facilities. Since the start of the campaign, they have already funded the construction of facilities here by other collaborating NGOs. We are here to support their effort to broaden their agreement.
He continued, “We, for the next 12 months, will be working hand in hand with the other NGOs to examine the progress of existing activities, find the gaps, and help to fix them. This is to minimize duplication of efforts. All of this is done to maintain ongoing efforts.