The Bongo District Assembly in the Upper East Region has formally launched a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) plan to improve access to potable water, fast-track the adoption of innovative approaches to safe hygiene practices as well as improve sanitation coverage in the district.
In his address to launch the WASH plan and a marketing committee to oversee its implementation, the Bongo DCE Ayamdor Alexis Adugdaa disclosed that the Assembly intended to invest GH¢4,778,321.10 into the intervention over the period 2015-2020. He explained that the focal areas of expenditure will be on capacity building estimated to cost GH¢114,476.19 while hygiene education will receive GH¢254,391.54 of the amount. GH¢2,740,490.67 will be spent on water supply and GH¢1,668,962.70 on sanitation.
Mr. Adugdaa said the outlook for the implementation period is to improve access to potable water supply from 79.7% to 95% by 2020, to promote safe hygiene practices by 40% by 2020 and to improve access to safe sanitation from 13.5% to 60% by the end of the implementation. Also by the end of the intervention, stakeholders’ capacities would have been built to effectively implement, coordinate and manage WASH services.
The DCE tasked the implementation committee members to start work immediately and carry their campaign to development partners and other stakeholders whose financial assistance and technical expertise are critical to the success of the intervention. He also called on non-governmental organisations which specialise in water, sanitation and hygiene issues to buy into his district’s WASH plan in order to produce the desired impact.
The Bongo District Water and Sanitation Desk Officer, Simon A. Alebga who gave a presentation on the current WASH situation in the district, revealed that there was total water coverage of 79.9% while issues of quality, equity and sustainability are being rectified. He stated that boreholes were the major improved water sources while a few small water systems existed in selected communities.
Mr. Alebga noted that one major challenge the district faced in its efforts to extend and improve potable water supply had been the high deposits of fluoride in underground water especially in Area Councils such as Soe, Valley Zone and Bongo. On sanitation, he disclosed that over 80 percent of the populace practiced open defecation while the district had only six septic tank latrines, six KVIP latrines, nine urinals, 110 household water closets and 874 pit latrines. There are also 87 institutional latrines across the district.
According the officer, only five out of a total of 122 public schools in the district have been introduced to and are practicing hand washing with water and soap. He disclosed that the 2015-2020 WASH plan therefore identified four Area Councils and 37 communities as most deprived of or with low WASH intervention coverage and will give them special attention during the implementation.
A Policy Officer with Water Aid Ghana, Enoch Cudjoe in his statement revealed that his outfit partnered the Bongo District in a series of activities over five months that culminated in the launch of the WASH plan. He added that with funding from the EU through Water Aid, the WASH intervention is being implemented in the Bongo District of Upper East region, Gushegu District of Northern region and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.
By: Peter Atogewe Wedam
Bongo District Information Officer
