Themed: “Mapping the Blue Thread”, the five-year plan is estimated at $51.7 million, and it is targeted at providing over 700,000 children with safe water services.

It is also meant to reach nearly 343,000 people with improved sanitation and over 535,000 with dignified hygiene service across 23 districts of Ghana.

In an address at the launching ceremony in Accra on Wednesday, the National Director of WVG, Dr Tinah Mukunda, said the universal services coverage was meant to ensure that everyone, everywhere across WVG intervention areas had access to water, sanitation and hygiene services that were safe, affordable and sustainable.

Under the business plan, she said WVG and its partners were expecting to invest a significant amount of resources to implement the programme within the five-year period. 

Appalling situation

Dr Mukunda pointed out that access to sustainable WASH service remained a significant challenge in Ghana.

Per the Population and Household Survey (2021), she said while access to basic water service for Ghana stood at 87.7 per cent, access to improved household toilets for exclusive use was far less at 25.3 per cent.

With nearly 18 per cent of households in Ghana practising open defecation, Dr Mukunda said more efforts were required to change the current open defecation situation.

She pointed out that the situation in the rural segment of the population was more serious, with 31 per cent of rural households having no access to toilet facilities.

In public basic schools, she said the situation was alarming, with 26 per cent of public basic schools having no access to toilet facilities.

“We can all imagine the impact of this situation on the education of children going to school.”

Dr Mukunda added that the WVG was working with the various district assemblies and national-level government partners to sign agreements that would serve as living documents.

“This will bring us together, help us align our efforts, resources, expertise and guide project implementation in the field,” she said.

Challenges remain

The Minister of Works, Housing and Water Resources, Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, admitted that even though Ghana had made key progress in the WASH sector over the years, significant challenges remain.

He explained that while national access to basic water had risen to an estimated 90 per cent and basic sanitation to 32 per cent, climate change and illegal mining continued to threaten water sources.  

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, said universal access to WASH services was not merely a target but a requirement for survival.

He, therefore, called for sustained investments and deepened collaboration among stakeholders in the WASH sector.