By Dennis Peprah
Abesim (B/R), July 13, GNA – The Bono and Upper East Regions have qualified for the grand finale of the World Vision Ghana (WVG) School Sanitation Solution Challenge.
The regions would be represented at the contest by Miss Vanessa Wenaba Adune, a 12-year-old class six pupil of the Bolgatanga Great Victory Academy, Upper East and Hannah Fokuo, 13 years a student of the Biadan Methodist Junior High School, Bono.
The finalists were crowned as the winners of the Shea and Cocoa Zones of “Master Encounter- Northern Sector School Sanitation Solutions Challenge (Triple S),” held at Abesim near Sunyani.
They would compete with two others, who had already been selected to represent the southern sector in the grand finale of the challenge, slated for Sunday, August 13, 2023, at the National Theatre in Accra, as part of the Children Sanitation Fair.
The WVG, a non-governmental organisation in partnership with the Kings Hall Media Limited, Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and Zoomlion Foundation is organising the challenge, which seeks to encourage children to cultivate interest in issues of environmental sanitation.
This is to further motivate the children to become sanitation conscious and agents of change, building their capacity to co-create sustainable solutions to sanitation challenges around them, empowering them to influence policies, advocate the removal of barriers and promote improved access to basic education.
Adune and Fokuo were among 10 contestants, between the ages of 12 and 14 and selected from the Cocoa and Shea Zones of the Northern sector of the country.
Speaking at the closing session of the programme, Mr Yaw Attah Arhin, the WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Technical Coordinator, WVG, said the NGO was committed to improving access to clean water.
This would put the nation on the edge to achieve goal four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
Mr Arhin said the challenge was also to build the capacity of Ghanaian children to enable them to co-create sustainable sanitation solutions and to also empower them to serve as sanitation advocates.
Mr Gabriel Antwi, the Bono Regional Director of Education commended WVG and its partners for the challenge and expressed the hope that it would be sustained to build the potential of children.
The WVG presented certificates of participation and undisclosed sums of money to all the participants.
GNA