PRESS RELEASE

24^th Mole Conference to examine Partnership for Scaling-up Sustainable Sanitation Services 

The 24^th edition of the longest running annual Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector event in Ghana, the Mole Conference, is scheduled to take place in the Ashanti Regional Capital, Kumasi from August 13-16, 2013. This year’s conference is on the theme: ''Building Effective Partnership for Scaling-Up Sustainable Sanitation Services in Ghana."

The theme is more appropriate in the context of Ghana because of the serious sanitation challenges the country currently faces. Poor individual and community attitude, poor and inadequate facilities, socio-cultural issues, weak institutional support mechanisms, weak enforcement of bye-laws, poor sanitation financing are all contributory factors to the poor  sanitation status in Ghana.

The 2013 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey(MICS, 2013) Report estimates Ghana’s improved sanitation (safe toilet) access rate at 15% as at 2012, against the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of 54%; at the same time the open defecation rate of the country is 23%. Whereas the improved sanitation coverage for urban Ghana is 21%, rural Ghana is 9%.  In terms of regional distribution for open defecation, the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions score 9% and 10% respectively while the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions have open defecation rates of 89%, 72% and 71% respectively.

The current coverage rate for improved sanitation implies that 1 in 4 Ghanaians defecate in the open every day. It also implies that with the coverage rate of 1 percentage point per annum, it is likely to take 40 years for Ghana to reach the MDG target of 54% for sanitation and another 46 years to reach universal coverage. Of course, this is based on the assumption that there will not be significant increase in population during this period. As if this is not enough, the largest of all the open defecations are locations – rivers/streams, bushes and open pits where raw faeces are dumped. This is a common practice in all regional, and district capitals and relatively big and small towns where no facilities exist for the treatment of faecal matter.

Clearly, the problem of sanitation is huge, and can only be tackled head-on with close collaboration and  effective partnership backed by effective resource deployment by community members, traditional authority, local government authority, national government, private sector and development partners.

CONIWAS, which hosts the Mole series, hopes that the outcomes of Mole XXIV Conference and the activities of the NGO coalition in general will be important in highlighting these critical issues at the District and community levels, and supporting communities to implement simple and sustainable measures to raise funds.

The key objectives for Mole XXIV are therefore to:

1. Explore options and opportunities for sustainable sanitation delivery in Ghana.
2. Examine  public-private partnership  models for accelerated sanitation delivery   
3. Ascertain  relevance  of  operation, maintenance, and  user fees as financing options for improved sanitation delivery
4. Share knowledge and  expertise on sanitation delivery  
5. Provide recommendations for  policy advocacy and  influencing

Detailed examination of issues would be carried out around the following four sub-themes:

1. Public- Private Partnership for Scaling-Up Sustainable Sanitation Delivery
2. The Role of MMDAs in Sanitation Service Delivery
3. Community's Perspective in solving Sanitation Challenges: opportunities and realities
4. Sanitation and health linkages: A way out of Ghana’s Sanitation Challenges?

Finally, the conference Approach and Methodology would include knowledge sharing sessions, structured and expert panel discussions, exhibitions, structured media events, conference communiqué and report.

-End-

Note to Editors:

Mole Conference is one of the biggest Multi-Stakeholder annual platforms in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector in Ghana. The Platform, named after the venue of the maiden edition, Mole in the Northern Region of Ghana, is organised by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) and brings together sector practitioners from NGOs, Government, Private Operators, Networks, CBOs, CSOs, etc. to dialogue, learn and share knowledge/ information on specific themes that affect the sector.

The Mole Conference Series has witnessed consistent growth of interest and importance since its inception in 1989 among civil society, policy makers, local government and development partners alike. The Mole Series or Mole, as it is known today, has evolved from what was primarily an NGO forum into perhaps the most important multi-stakeholder platform within the WASH Sector in Ghana. Over the years, the conference has attracted government actors, donors and other stakeholders (including local authorities) on an annual basis to deliberate on critical issues affecting the sector.

For enquiries, clarifications and interviews, please contact Mr Ben Arthur through 0302 250816/0240210584/0206527445 or coniwas@yahoo.com. 

http://www.alternet.org/what-mainstream-culture-hides-about-sex-women-and-orgasms

http://www.alternet.org/what-mainstream-culture-hides-about-sex-women-and-orgasms

Ghana is developing national spatial planning framework

Ghana is developing national spatial planning framework

DEMOLISH SLUMS, GHANA INSTITUTION OF SURVEYORS CHARGE

President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors,James E.K Dadson

The new President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS), James E.K.Dadson has warned that if steps are not taken to remove slums from prime areas Ghana cannot achieve the desired level of sustainable development

Speaking to the media after a thanks-giving service to round off the 8th Annual Surveyors Week in Accra, Surveyor Dadson said to embark on massive urban renewal to ensure that to neighbourhoods become fit for habitation and conduct of human activities.

The 2013 Annual Surveyors’ week celebration centred on urban renewal and sustainable re-development of Ghana’s cities.

The celebration also aimed at drawing government’s attention to the problem of urban decay and the development of slums with a view to finding lasting solutions to undesirable elements such as slums, traffic congestion, and the menace of old and dilapidated buildings in the city centres.

Surveyor James E .K. Dadson noted that Ghana has not managed its’ urban development well over the years.

‘Every land and what it’s supposed to be used for. If in the opinion of the experts, if a particular land use is not beneficial, we will have to relocate it and put it to a use that will be beneficial to society. You cannot have a slum in an area that has very high land value.’

Animals competing with humans for space at Sabon Zongo,Accra.

The new president of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors stressed that  landowners, property developers  and the general public who want to register or acquire property must engage the professionals who have been trained in that area if they want to get value for money.

He added that even when the Survey Council bill, which is now before parliament  is passed, it will still require the enforcement of the law to ensure that Ghana’s urban centres are congenial places to live in and work.

 ‘ I think the most important thing is not having the law, but rather being able to enforce the law. That is the key. We can have all the laws in this country but if we don’t enforce them we will not benefit from the gains from these laws. In the past we have not been law abiding. We think that all of us, the judiciary, the law enforcement agencies, the professionals, civil society our land owners, all of us must realise that  if we are not prudent in the way we manage our land resources, we will end up hurting the environment and the human beings that live on the land.’

2013 WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

Fresh fruit being sold  in the open.Most go to waste due to poor storage.

This year, June 5 was marked across the globe as World Environment Day, focussing on the theme ‘Think. Eat. Save. Reduce your foodprint.’

According to the UN Environment programme, UNEP, more than one point three billion tons of food valued at 1 trillion US dollars are lost or wasted each year by consumers, retailers and the hospitality industry.

This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, 1 in every 7 or 900 million people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of 5 die daily from hunger.  

Food waste is an enormous drain on natural resources and a contributor to negative environmental impacts. 

For example, it takes about 1,000 litres of water to produce 1 litre of milk and about 16,000 litres goes into a cow’s food to make a hamburger. The resulting greenhouse gas emissions from the cows themselves, and throughout the food supply chain, all end up in vain when we waste food.

In fact, global food production occupies 25% of all habitable land and is responsible for 70% of fresh water consumption, 80% of deforestation, and 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. It is the largest single driver of biodiversity loss and land-use change.

A UN report released on June 4 2013, says that supporting smallholder farmers to play a greater role in food production and natural resource stewardship is one of the quickest ways to lift over one billion people out of poverty

Most of the 1.4 billion people living on under US$1.25 a day live in rural areas and depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods, while an estimated 2.5 billion people are involved in full- or part-time smallholder agriculture. 

Smallholder farmers provide over 80 per cent of the food consumed in large parts of the developing world, particularly Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

A previous study showed that a one-per-cent increase in agricultural per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reduced the poverty gap five times more than a one-per-cent increase in GDP in other sectors, especially amongst the poorest people.

However, increasing fragmentation of land, reduced investment support and the marginalization of small farms in economic and development policy have hampered the development of this vital contribution and left many smallholders vulnerable.

Current practices are undermining the ecological foundation of the global food system through overuse and the effects of agricultural pollution, thereby enhancing degradation, reducing ecosystem capacity to generate sustainable yields and threatening to negatively impact food security and poverty reduction. 

Aside from the moral implications of such wastage in a world where almost 900 million people go hungry every day, unconsumed food wastes both the energy put into growing it and the fuel spent on transporting produce across vast distances.

Food preservation is an effective way of saving food and preventing it from being wasted or lost. In Ghana, Nigeria and other West African countries, cassava tubers are processed  into gari, which can be stored for long period.

Restaurants, traders and individuals regularly dump their wasted food in skips like this one at Mamobi Market,Accra.

CHRAJ SLAMS GHANA'S WAR ON CORRUPTION...'we pay lip service'

CHRAJ SLAMS GHANA’S WAR ON CORRUPTION.

A Deputy Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Richard Atta Quayson says Ghana has over the years paid lip service to the fight against corruption.

Speaking at the launch of the country review of the implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in Accra, Mr Atta Quayson said, as a nation, Ghana has learnt no lessons from her encounter with the canker of graft.

Quoting former UN Sec General Kofi Annan, the Deputy CHRAJ commissioner said poverty hurts poor people in developing countries more disporportionatley by diverting scarce resources intended for development and making it difficult to meet  their fundamental needs such as food, health and education.

 Mr Atta Quayson stressed that while no nation has escaped the ravaging effects of the canker of corruption, some have shown that they have learnt their lessons. Regrettably, he noted, the same cannot be said for Ghana.

‘I would like to reiterate that Ghana must begin to demonstrate that it has learnt its lessons from corruption. We have turned a blind eye too often to corruption. We have encouraged corrupt practices too often to gain political advantage. We have paid lip service for far too long. It is time to act decisively’

Corruption in Africa, the Deputy CHRAJ commissioner, who is also the Chairman of the Ghana Review Committee says, is deeply rooted in weak institutions, processes and the capacities of African countries.

‘The UN recently disclosed that political corruption alone costs governments about 1 point three trillion US dollars every year. …Many public officers, either before or after performing a public duty, expect a motivation or 'thank you' in material form: weight, money and hampers at Christmas among others. Whether Ghana has learnt hard lessons from being hospitable to corruption is a matter for us all to ponder’

Richard Atta Quayson said the UN Convention against Corruption, which Ghana ratified in 2007, has adopted the use of prevention, education and law enforcement as the best approach to fighting graft across the globe.

GHANA TO REVISE SWA COMPACT-EHSD BOSS

GHANA TO REVISE SWA COMPACT-EHSD BOSS

The Acting Director of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Naa Lenason Demedeme, says that the 2010 Ghana Compact signed in Washington will be revised, if Ghana really means to attain her 54 per cent Millennium Development goal for sanitation and hygiene by 2015.

Speaking exclusively to the Ghana Water and Sanitation Journalists Network,GWJN, Mr Dememdeme noted that  the nebulous nature of  crucial sections of the Ghana Compact makes it extremely difficult to track  the level of funding into the sanitation and water sector.

At the first Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) High Level Meeting(HLM) in Washington in April 2010, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, pledged that Ghana will ‘spend up to USD 200 million annually from now up to 2015… make additional outlays of USD 150 million annually towards improving environmental sanitation … and an additional commitment of USD 50 million annually to reinforce hygiene education.’

But development partners, DPs, and civil society organisations such as GWJN  have questioned government’s commitment to this pact, considering that just 14 per cent of Ghanaians  use improved sanitation facilities, while an estimated five million Ghanaians defecate in rivers, gutters and bushes each day.

According to report by international aid agency, WaterAid, ‘Ghana is one of 57 countries currently most off-track to meet its sanitation MDG target. On current trends, Ghana is due to halve the proportion of people lacking sanitation by 2123, missing the MDG sanitation target by 108 years.’ 

No wonder that the capital, Accra, other cities and towns have been hit by several bouts of deadly cholera outbreak over the  years..  

Asked how much of the USD 400 million annual pledge had come into the sanitation sector, Mr Demedeme said, ‘I don’t have the exact figures, but government has made available what it can afford.’

At the second HLM this year, Ghana reported that it met 46 per cent of its 2010 commitment and 70 per cent of its 2011 commitment to the WASH sector, but no concrete details have so far been released.

Mr Demedeme stressed that government was doing what it could, it would always have to rely on multi-donor budget support. He added that in some years up to 70 per cent of the budget for water and sanitation services came from donors.

‘The Ghana compact is not too clear about the exact roles and responsibilities of the partners in the framework,’ says Mr Demedeme .

 ‘We should be able to look at the compact again because the compact indicates that the Ghana government in partnership with development partners .And if you want government alone to shoulder the USD 350 million  bill for the sector each year, then we have a problem.’ If government contracts loans, are they part of the compact commitment?, he quizzed.

Naa Demedeme added that ‘In the next couple of days, we’ll start the process of revising the compact to get a lot of things clearer. Civil society will be involved in the revision that will clearly delineate what the responsibility of government is and what role DPs should play.’

 On why Ghana is woefully off track when it comes to sanitation coverage, this is what Naa Demedeme said:

‘The underlying issue has been low investment. If you compare the investment in the water sector to the investment in the sanitation sector, it is now surprising that the water sector has made significant progress. Water they say is life. If you go to any community and prioritise their needs, water comes first before sanitation.’

‘Donors themselves,’ he added ‘when coming with some investment in water and sanitation, the budget for sanitation is always an afterthought, normally around five or ten per cent.’

He however indicated that the situation is changing as most of the new donor budgets that have come split the investment equally for water and sanitation.

Mr Demedeme cited the most recent European investment bank,EIB, facility which has split the investment equally for water and sanitation.