WaterAid's plans in Ghana: 2006-2011

A new strategy running from 2006 - 2011 sets out the plans and activities for this period.

One of our biggest aims is to ensure that the problems of the poorest, socially excluded and marginalised groups, like women, elderly, disabled and those living with HIV/AIDS, receive increased support. To do this we aim to influence policies that act as obstacles to these groups accessing water, sanitation and hygiene. 

We will help local communities to engage with national and local governments so that their views are taken into account by decision-makers and service providers.

As more poor people move into towns and cities looking for work the numbers living in squatter settlements with inadequate facilities are increasing. We will therefore also increase our work with poor urban communities.

Reducing poverty

Water and sanitation are included in both the international Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) to reduce poverty and the Ghanaian Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
The Millennium Development Goals include targets agreed by all governments to halve the proportions of people without access to water and sanitation between 1990 and 2015.

However there are many challenges to ensure that these plans become reality. The first is money. To reach this target $160 million needs to be spent annually in Ghana compared to the current annual investment of $52 million, of which only 3.5% comes from the Ghanaian Government.

Atoapoka Azuma from Asamponbisi Village, Ghana

Credit: WaterAid / Jon Spaull

"There is enough water now for everything I need to do: cooking, washing, bathing myself and the children. This water is clean and much better than the old source, which made us sick with diarrhea and skin diseases.

At the old source, the water was in the ground. It took a whole day to collect enough water for two days. With the time I save now that we have the pump close by, I weave baskets to sell. With the extra income I get from selling baskets, I can buy food, and school uniforms. Before, I had no time to weave baskets, which was a problem. Now there is a real change. I cannot read or write and my hope for the future is for my children to have more chances than me, to get an education and lead good lives."

Other obstacles include the country's over-elaborate institutional arrangements for providing water and sanitation which need greater coordination; inadequate attention to sanitation; limited technology choices; little involvement of communities and the poorest people; and the slow rate at which responsibility for water and sanitation is moving from national to local governments.

We will increase our advocacy work to lobby for greater investment in these essential services and to ensure the money that is available is spent in the most appropriate ways. We will focus on issues of equity, sustainability of facilities and accountability.

We also work to influence other organisations in Ghana including government and donor agencies at both district and national levels. We are strengthening links and forming networks with these organisations so that our work has a wider impact.

Since 2005 we have actively campaigned in Ghana, notably through the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, which was known in the UK as Make Poverty History. The Global Call is a world-wide alliance calling for world leaders to live up to their promises and make a breakthrough on poverty.

WaterAid will also support local governments with their new responsibilities for water and sanitation services so that they can plan, coordinate and implement projects effectively.

Together, with our partners, they will work towards reaching the MDGs in each area. We will specifically help to map the location and condition of water facilities in the areas, to ensure all future work reaches people in an equitable way.

Finally, future projects in Ghana will look at the issue of water resource management to ensure that water is used and managed sustainably.