Sanitation Ministry to Improve Data Collection for Sanitation, Water Interventions

By Claude Nyarko Adams

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, says the Ministry is instituting mechanisms to improve data collection necessary to inform sanitation and water interventions projects by government.

She said the current practice where local data was sourced from external groups and organisations as the basis of government's development plan was a bane in identifying and determining critical sanitation and water needs of communities and the appropriate solutions to address them.

In this regard, she stated that, her outfit would redefine collaboration with development partners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to enhance data collection.

The Minister was speaking in Accra yesterday when the Country Director of IRC Ghana, international water and sanitation organisation, Mrs Vida Duti, paid a courtesy call on her in her office.

The visit was also to enable Mrs Duti present her award she won in recognition of her work in striving for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector to the Minister.

The award christened 'Annual Award for Development' came with a US$100,000 cash prize was conferred on Mrs Duti by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) at the 40th Annual Session of the organisation's Ministerial Council in Vienna held this year.

Madam Dapaah reiterated the importance of collaboration between the Ministry and stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to provide basic sanitation and water facilities to communities to address challenges and promote healthy lifestyles.

"It is gratifying the work the Ministry and other stakeholders in the sector do to ensure that communities have access to basic sanitation and water amenities. This are the basic necessities every human being need for them to live a healthy life," she added.

Despite significant achievements in the sector within the past few years, Madam Dapaah said, the Ministry was prepared to support efforts and intensify collaborations with stakeholders to work towards realising the government's agenda to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

On her part, Mrs Duti said the award was a demonstration of the strong relationship between Ghana and the OPEC Fund which had engineered support and collaborations in addressing sanitation and water challenges in some parts of the country.

She said the cash prize would be dedicated to providing some selected communities with water and sanitation amenities as well as improve the livelihood of needy communities across the country.

Presently, she stated that, the IRC Ghana was implementing a WASH master plan for the Asutifi North district aimed at providing universal WASH services for residents of the district by 2030.

The project, which is in partnership with Safe Water Network, World Vision, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the local government, she said, would ensure that the people have access to adequate water facilities.

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