Among the changes being made, the Minister said, are the implementation of the Operation Vanguard to stem water pollution as well as protect water bodies being jointly undertaken by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and Water Resources Commission (WRC).

Madam Dapaah said this in a speech read for her by Mr Anthony Mensah, Director of Sanitation, on Thursday at the launch of the Rural Water Sanitation Hygiene (RWASH) by PLAN International, Ghana and its partners.

Madam Dapaah said the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has also commissioned some reforms within the rural water sector with the aim of employing professionalism to consolidate the gains made in the past.

“All these and many others are part of the larger plans and institutional re-organisation of the WASH sector to align with the new thinking required by the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Six,” she said

Madam Dapaah said this is to ensure sustainable management of water, sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030.

She said the Ministry would also ensure transparency by properly monitoring and evaluating Non-Governmental Organisations in the sector to make certain that they worked within the policy and priorities of the Ministry.

“Plans are far advanced to re-activate the WASH sector working group which brings together senior staff of the Ministry to sit with civil society organisations and international NGOs on a monthly basis,” she said.

Madam Dapaah said to deal with the challenges facing sector players in employing different approaches in Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), the Ministry developed the Rural Sanitation Model and Strategy (RSMS) as a guideline.

She said the Ministry further developed a certification and verification protocol for quality in open defecation free status and put in place a Basic Sanitation Information System and district CLTS scale-up planning tools called “DROPs” for the sector.

Mr Solomon Tesfamariam, Country Director of PLAN-Ghana, said the project would be implemented in 36 communities and the objective is to contribute to the reduction in morbidity and mortality among all children, especially girls through equitable access to safe, affordable and sustainable water and improve sanitation and hygiene by 2021.

He said Agona East, Akuapem North and Afadzato South districts in the Central, Eastern and Volta regions, respectively, would benefit from the Project.

Madam Basila Nanbigne, Executive Secretary of CONIWAS said there is a financial gap in the WASH sector to be bridged and called on government to increase the budget in the sector. 

It brought together stakeholders in the sector, such as district executives, school girls, directors and heads of WASH NGOs