Plan Ghana, an international child-centred community development organization, on Thursday held its maiden Community-Led Total Sanitation/School-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS/SLTS) annual review workshop to deliberate on environmental sanitation among communities.
The workshop, which was held in Accra, brought together officials from Plan Ghana, Plan Kenya and Plan Netherlands to meet with officials from local organizations such as TREND Group, Pronet North, Water Vision, ADSEN Consult and RUWSS, which have been engaged by Plan Ghana to champion the implementation of the CLTS/SLTS concept in communities across Ghana.
It was to share experiences as well as consolidate activities or reports of the local implementers in terms of how members of the programme areas or communities reacted to the CLTS/SLTS concept over the previous year to incorporate them into the national strategy towards addressing environmental sanitation in the communities.
CLTS/SLTS is a community-owned initiative aimed at sensitizing and creating the platform for communities to take up the responsibility to construct their own toilets so as to eliminate indiscriminate defecation in the environment to ensure safety.
Plan Ghana, in partnership with its local programme implementers such as TREND Group, Pronet North, Water Vision, ADSEN Consult, RUWSS, is currently piloting the concept in 42 communities - nine each in Wa and Tumu and eight each in Bawjiase, Hohoe and Asesewa programme areas.
Mr Samuel Paulos, Country Director of Plan Ghana, who opened the workshop, commended other partners including Plan Netherlands and WaterAid, for their keen involvement in the programme expressing the hope that this would ensure its success since they would bring their experiences to bear on it.
Mr Paulos said the review report would be presented at a Pan-African forum in Ethiopia in February, where all eight African countries implementing the concept would meet to consolidate country reports.
He said Plan Ghana would use the report for serious advocacy to get governmental authorities to be seriously involved in the programme for its success to ensure safety for all especially children and women.
Mr Paulos noted that sanitation involved a lot of planning and gave the assurance that Plan Ghana would continue to support local implementation agencies to ensure the success of the concept.
Mr Amsalu Negussie and Ms Sharon Rose, representatives of Plan Kenya and Plan Netherlands respectively, called for strict adherence to the CLTS/SLTS concept to ensure success.
Mr Kweku Quansah, Programmes Officer of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), said despite efforts, sanitation coverage in the country, in terms of household improved toilet facilities, improved by only three per cent in five years, from 10 per cent in 2005 to 13 per cent in 2010 adding about five million of the population still practised open defecation.
Mr Quansah said to reverse the trend, the EHSD of the MLGRD had reviewed its environmental sanitation policy and recommended adoption of the CLTS/SLTS concept to ensure that every household had access to an improved household toilet.
He added that the (CLTS/SLTS) had the potential to propelling the country to achieving the Millennium Development Goals on Environment by the 2015 deadline.
He urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to incorporate the CLTS/SLTS concept in their agenda to ensure that communities were Open Defecation Free and all people used or defecated in toilets rather than the open environment.