Community report on water says: must do better

The women of the Eggu community discuss their community scorecard.

Credit: WaterAid

The Eggu community in Ghana have handed in a performance report to those responsible for supplying their water and sanitation services, telling them clearly they "must do better".

These five rural villages in the Upper West Region used a 'community scorecard' approach to assess the state of the water and sanitation services in their area. Where they found the facilities lacking they used the information to demand action. 

This is how WaterAid's Citizens' Action initiative works, in Ghana and across the countries where we work. Communities like the Eggu are helped not only to develop a better understanding of their entitlements to water and sanitation but also to gather accurate information on the state of the services in their area to hold those responsible for the services to account. 

Wells in the area had fallen into disrepair, water supplies had become infected with worms and latrines that had been promised never materialised. It is a familiar story in many communities in Ghana and beyond.

The Eggu community meet to discuss their water and sanitation services.

Credit: WaterAid

But by using the community scorecard local people come together to discuss the water and sanitation issues in their area. They then map the location of waterpoints, note whether they are working or not, and rate the quality of taps, wells and latrines. The Eggu community met with our partner organisations, service providers and local government agencies armed with this information, a strong negotiation tool, to help bridge the gap between promises and action.

Margaret Korkaara is the Eggu's community representative and was instrumental in the discussions. She says, "Before the community scorecard assessment, we had no latrines in the community, although we had been promised some. During the assessment we made a lot of noise about latrines and now 30 households have latrines…the wells have been disinfected and the water is safe to drink, which has relieved the community of sickness."

Although Citizens' Action is a major challenge to the status quo, those agencies involved in the process were convinced of the benefits of responding and being accountable to the people they exist to serve.

Ms Batir, Director of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency in the Upper West Region says, "If people have open minds, do not mind being criticised, and can see the process as a way to improve services, for those of us who are willing to listen to the voiceless, the services can improve. We are so used to telling the poor what they need and what they should do, now we need to listen, we need to turn it around the other way."

Projects such as those in Eggu are now being carried out across many of the countries where WaterAid works.

To find out more about the approach visit our Citizens' Action page