Ghana : water and sanitation

,,10 AL Africa Region- Number 65- June 2001 Findings Infobriefs reports on Good Practice in ongoing operational, economic and sector work carried out by the World Ba-ik and its member governments in the Africa Region. It is published monthly by the Knowledge and Learning Center on behalf of the Region. The views expressed in Findings are those of the author/s and should not be attributed to the World Bank Group. Ghana: Water and Sanitation 22622 The First Community Water and Sanitation Project (CWSP-1), 1994-2000, was the World Bank's first stand-alone rural water and sanitation project in Ghana. It was designed to help achieve the objectives of the National Community Water and Sanitation program: (a) provide basic water and sanitation services to communities that will contribute toward the capital costs and pay the normal operations, maintenance, and repair costs of their facilities; (b) ensure sustainability of these facilities through community management, including involvement of women, private sector provision ofgoods and services, and public sector promotion and support and (c) maximize health benefits by integrating water, sanitation and hygiene education interventions. Impact on the ground Some of the targets achieved were as follows: * 32,000 rural inhabitants have access to new water points * About 780,000 rural users manage their water point 6,000 household latrines have been constructed, serving about 36,000 people * 92 percent of households paid their share of capital costs * 85 percent of households are paying their share of operations and maintenance * 44 percent of the Water and Sanitation Committee (WATSAN) members are female (the target here was 30- 40 percent) * 92 percent of rural facilities are functioning adequately * 72 percent of the WATSANs keep financial records * 96 percent of the poor and 98 percent of the non-poor use improved water sources * 84 percent store water in clean containers * 32 Partner Organizations in 26 participating districts * 481 latrine artisans trained in 26 districts * 65 hand pump mechanics trained * The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has been established by an Act of Parliament * The CWSA Board has been appointed with representative stakeholder participation * The project's capacity building strategy has been replicated by all concerned donors and NGOs across all 10 regions, using the same roles for private and public sector actors. Lessons learned Demand driven approach: Communities are capable of demanding and maintaining services and making their contributions to capital costs and operations and maintenance. Information campaign: The demand-driven approach requires an adequate information campaign which outlines the various technical options and associated costs along with the project rules so that communities can make an informed choice. District role: District strengthening and support are critical for sustainability. Procurement: Community and district-level contracting are important in the long-term since they establish commercial links and makes for greater accountability between the community and the providers of goods and services. This also builds the capacity of the community to procure materials and manage contracts. Sanitation and hygiene: In order for sanitation interventions to have a significant demonstration effect and influence demand, great attention needs to be paid to marketing and promoting a range of latrines. Gender. Training on gender issues is critical to the meaningful inclusion of women in community manage- ment. Training and extension activities: Careful screening is needed when selecting Partner Organizations (POs) for work with communities so as to ensure that they are viable organizations. Using Small Business Development Units (SBDUs) to train existing POs and promote the growth of new ones worked well. Training materials need to be prepared during project preparation and then modified after implementation to factor in the local conditions. Stakeholder consultation and co-ordination: Donor co-ordination is extremely hard to achieve, even when there is a national program, since most donors prefer to have their own self-standing project, often tied to a given region. Unified financial management and a monitoring and evaluation system is a desirable, if difficult, objective. Support to community management: WATSANs and Water and Sanitation Development Boards (WSDBs) need long-term support to continue managing facilities on behalf of the community. Financial management training - initial and refresher - for the WSDBs is particularly critical. The CWSA and the districts must be in a position to provide guidance on tariff setting, service upgrading to house connections, and/or additional point source facilities. WDSBs, and to a lesser extent, WATSANs must be encouraged to enter into contracts with the private sector to help in the management and operations of the water systems, as well as eventual system expansion. This Infobrief has been largely excerpted from the Implementation Completion Report on the project. For more information, please contact Jennifer Sa;j or .or jaert Roche: RrocheLworldbank.org 86540 1 MC C3-301 Persons accessing the Bank's External Website can access information on Water Supply and Sanitation by clicking on Topics and Sectors, then Water Supply and Sanitation. World Bank staff can access the necessary information by clicking on Sectors and then on Water Supply and Sanitation.