155 communities in Kassena-Nankana West declared Open Defecation-Free

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kassena-Nankana, Gerard Ataogye has said 155 out of the 263 communities in the area have been declared Open-Defecation Free (ODF).

The DCE disclosed this at a sanitation and business expo organised at Paga in the Upper East Region on the theme: “Eliminating Open Defecation: The Role of the Sanitation Market”.

The Expo is to address environmental and sanitation problems, which is of prior concern to the Government and policymakers, he said.

The programme was organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Kassena-Nankana West District (KNWD) among other partners.

The DCE attributed the success story to support from UNICEF-Ghana, World Vision Ghana (WVG), Water Aid Ghana (WAG) and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA).

He commended the Canadian Government for being the major funding partner of the Expo and its related sanitation and hygiene interventions across the communities.

Mr Ataogye also acknowledged the contribution of WVG, WAG and CWSA for complementing the Government’s efforts at tackling Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) problems.

The expo aims to enhance the skills and capabilities of latrine artisans and Community Technical Volunteers [CTVs] to deliver efficiently the mass construction of latrines that would be easily accessible and comfortable for usage.

“The participants will also be schooled on how to access the best available sanitation products and services on the market, all forming parts of efforts geared at ending a total ODF in the District,” he said.

Mr Ataogye said it was for that reason that Government joined forces with UNICEF and other partners to implement the broad sanitation programme dubbed:  “GoG-UNICEF SanMark.”

He said diseases would be minimized if the environment was clean at all times and urged the communities to actively get involved in tackling the sanitation problem.

Madam Eva Akanchaladey, the Regional Consultant of UNICEF in charge of WASH, disclosed that there was a sanitation fund to support assemblies in the implementation of the SanMark and its related activities.

She said an example is the Garu District that received the allocation in recent times and that the fund disbursed interest-free loans to households for latrine projects.

Madam Akanchaladey urged the Assembly and other stakeholders to strive to qualify for the fund to hasten their efforts.

She disclosed that close to 1,047 Community Technical Volunteers had been trained regionally to provide direction and expertise for the successful implementation of the SanMark.

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