By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani (Bono), Aug. 19, GNA – Miss Dasanah Candi Mwine-Maalo, 15, and Nyarko Nhyira Dede, 13, have been adjudged overall winners of the first Masters Encounter of the Seventh School Sanitation Solutions (TRIPLE S) Challenge 2026 for the Shea and Cocoa Zones, respectively.
Mwine-Maalo, a student of Star of God Roman Catholic (R/C) Junior High School in the Upper West Region, will represent the Shea Zone in the grand finale of the competition to be held at the National Theatre in Accra on September 21, 2026.
Dede, a student of St Anthony R/C Basic Junior High School in the Eastern Region, will also represent the Cocoa Zone in the final competition.
The two contestants emerged winners from a group of 10 students drawn from the Shea Zone, comprising the Upper East, Upper West, North East, Savannah and Northern regions, and the Cocoa Zone, made up of the Ashanti, Eastern, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions.
They participated in the first Masters Encounter, the semi-final stage of the challenge, held in Sunyani and organised by World Vision Ghana (WVG) in partnership with Kings Hall Media Limited.
Other partners supporting the initiative include the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR), the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GAMA SWP), and the Zoomlion Foundation.
Addressing the opening session, Mr Yaw Attah Arhin, WASH Technical Specialist at WVG, explained that the seventh edition of the challenge was launched in June 2023 with the publication of invitations for entries.
He said more than 1,000 valid entries were received from across the country, except from the Bono East region.
Mr Arhin explained that the country had been divided into four zones under the challenge, with the Tilapia Zone comprising the Greater Accra, Volta and Oti regions, while the Coconut Zone consists of the Central, Western and Western North regions.
He said contestants were selected from each zone, with the zonal champions qualifying for the grand finale, known as the “Battle of Champions.”
According to him, the challenge seeks to encourage learners to develop a keen interest in environmental sanitation issues, become sanitation-conscious change agents, and positively influence both their peers and adults.
He said the competition also aims at building the capacity of learners to co-create sustainable solutions to sanitation challenges in their communities and advocate increased access to improved sanitation, particularly in basic schools.
Mr Arhin said the initiative was introduced to address existing gaps, including the limited involvement of children in developing sustainable solutions to sanitation challenges affecting them.
He noted that before the introduction of the challenge, WVG and Kings Hall Media had implemented other sanitation-related competitions, including the Open Defecation-Free Cartoon Contest in partnership with the Junior Graphic.
“While the lack of access to toilet facilities in schools is regrettable, it is equally worrying that many of the available toilet facilities in schools don’t have changing rooms for girls,” he stated.
Mr Arhin stressed that access to safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene remained essential to child wellbeing.
“Nothing can be more important to child wellbeing than access to safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene. That is why we prioritise and promote access to sustainable WASH services in communities, households, schools and healthcare facilities,” he said.
He reaffirmed the commitment of WVG, its partners and stakeholders to improving sanitation and ensuring sustainable access to basic sanitation services nationwide.
Mr Arhin thanked Kings Hall Media, GES, MSWR, GAMA SWP and the Zoomlion Foundation for their contributions towards the success of the TRIPLE S Challenge.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Joseph Akwaboa, Bono Regional Minister, expressed concern that sanitation was often treated as a minor issue until its consequences became unavoidable.
“We complain about dirty streets, overflowing drains, plastic waste and unclean public spaces but the uncomfortable truth is that the sanitation problem is not somewhere out there but, in our homes, our schools, our markets and sometimes in our own attitudes.”
Mr Akwaboa noted that although government had a responsibility to provide infrastructure, services and effective law enforcement, citizens also had a duty to keep the country clean.
“Sanitation is therefore not merely a government responsibility, but a national responsibility.”
He commended the organisers of the TRIPLE S Challenge, describing the initiative as a reminder that achieving a cleaner Ghana begins with education, discipline and behavioural change.
“If we build a generation that understands that cleanliness isn’t somebody else’s job, then we will have taken a major step towards solving Ghana’s sanitation challenge,” Akwaboa said.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Dennis Peprah
Email: [email protected]
August 19, 2026