By Philip Tengzu, GNA
Wa(UW/R), Feb. 26, GNA – Some concern citizens in the Wa Municipality have formed a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) advocacy group to engage stakeholders and duty bearers towards improving the sanitation and hygiene situation in the Municipality.
Mr Mohammed Yakubu, the Chairman of the group told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the formation of the group was necessitated by the urgent need for access to improved sanitation and hygiene.
The Integrated Action for Community Development (INTAGRAD) influenced the formation of the advocacy group under the Netherland’s Development Organisation (SNV) Voice for Change (V4C) partnership.
A similar group had also been formed in the Nandom Municipality where INTAGRAD was also implementing the project to press home the need for improved sanitation services in the Municipality.
Mr Yakubu said the Wa Municipality was bedeviled with ill sanitation practices such as Open Defecation and improper waste disposal among others, which posed health threat to the public.
The Wa Municipality was ranked last on the November 2019 edition of the Upper West Regional Open Defecation Free (ODF) league table, with only 13 out of 86 communities being ODF.
Mr Yakubu indicated that the group would, among other things, engage duty bearers including the Municipal Chief Executive and Assembly Members to advocate for improved sanitation services, as well as sensitising the public on the need for them to observe good sanitation practices.
He said they would also collaborate with other stakeholders such as traditional rulers and religious leaders to enable them meet the objective of the group.
Mr Yakubu identified financial constraint as a major challenge of the WASH advocacy group and appealed to the general public and benevolent Non-governmental Organisations to support them.
Mr Nurudeen Ibrahim, the Advocacy and Policy Officer for the INTAGRAD, said they had trained members of the group to enable them effectively make evidence-based advocacy and to help proffer solution to the teething sanitation challenges in the Wa Municipality.
He expressed the hope that the Wa Municipal WASH advocacy group, which currently had 25 members, drawn from various communities within the Municipality, would be self-sustainable even after the end of the V4C partnership project to enable it perform its functions as expected.
Goal six (6) of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which Ghana was a signatory to, enjoins member states to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030.
GNA