The lack of dedicated funding for environmental health and sanitation activities has been mentioned as the major factor for the Wa Municipality’s consistent poor performance on the Regional ODF League Table.
Another key factor is the lack of commitment from political leadership at the Assembly.
The Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) Advocacy and Policy Officer for the Integrated Action for Community Development, (INTAGRAD), Nurideen Ibrahim said the target set by the MDCEs in the region to ensure all the entire region is Open Defecation Free would be highly improbable to achieve if leadership does not adopt innovative ways and commit more funds to addressing the problem.
He spoke to Radio Ghana on the sidelines of a sensitization meeting on SDG 6 at Wa.
The meeting was to encourage stakeholders to localize the targets and indicators of the SDG 6.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Six (6) is one of the 17 SDGs adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.
SDG 6 talks about ensuring availability and sustainable management for all.
Under the goal, there are eight (8) targets to be achieved before 2030.
The targets would be measured with 11 independent indicators.
Among the indicators and targets are the ‘Service Levels’.
Mr Ibrahim said for developing countries like Ghana, the “Service Level” to meet is “Basic”. Under “Basic”, Mr. Ibrahim said countries are expected to “use improved facilities that are not shared with other facilities”.
He however, lamented that in the Wa Municipality, Open Defecation is rife therefore if stringent measures are not taken, the Municipality cannot meet the regions target of 2020 or the SDG’s target of 2030.
To be able to deal with the issue of sanitation in peri-urban and urban areas, Mr. Ibrahim called on stakeholders to re-develop the rural sanitation models as they are not effective.
Story filed by Mark Smith
