Cost-effective water services enable households to sustainably improve their health and livelihoods.
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Snapshot
Context & Challenges
Over 90% of the population in the Lawra-Nandom Districts of the Upper West Region of Ghana is rural and highly dependent on agriculture. While organizations and donors have put significant effort into improving water infrastructure, unserved communities still rely on raw surface water from streams, rivers, ponds and impounded reservoirs for their total water needs. These surface sources are mostly polluted and carry waterborne and water related diseases such as diarrhea and bilharzia (schistosomiasis), among others. In many communities, ground water is abstracted from hand dug wells, which are mostly unprotected and prone to contamination from both human activities and surface water intrusions. Given that livelihoods in this arid region depend predominately on agriculture, sufficient and reliable access to water, especially during the dry season, which lasts from October to May, is critical.
Program
West Africa Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WA-WASH) Program
Location: Upper West Region
Dates: 2014-2015
Clients [to date]: 975 people receiving access to improved water supply
Funder: USAID through the GLOWS consortium with FIU
Implementers: Winrock International
View Photos From Ghana
A drilling team cost-effectively improves a hand dug well near someones home.
A group leader gives a presentation at a livelihoods workshop held by WA-WASH. The program gives technical and business development training on growing a variety of different crops.
The WA-WASH Project Director and Livelihoods specialist with Moringa plants that will be supplied to Women's Moringa Cooperatives.
A canzee pump in Tantuo, Ghana. The WA-WASH program concentrates on promoting practical and affordable water technologies that meet people's multiple water needs.
Approach
Support integrated water services that involve the local government authorities, private sector and communities, using cost-effective and appropriate local solutions.
Provide reliable access to water services that sustainably meet domestic and productive water needs, improve health by providing access to safe drinking water and promoting improved hygiene, and increase incomes through diversified livelihoods. New and rehabilitated wells using a variety of technologies are put in place by Winrock-trained manual drillers and pump manufacturers. Food security is enhanced through locally appropriate strategies that support and sustain incomes, focusing on moringa, cassava and other crops such as cowpeas and groundnuts. These activities place a strong emphasis on the participation of women. Hygiene education and awareness with a focus on low-cost handwashing stations.
Water
- Infrastructure investments include manually drilled boreholes, upgrading existing traditional wells and/or construction of new hand dug wells
- Technical and business training for manual drillers and manufacturers on practical and affordable water technologies, supported by local supply chains
- Establishment and training of water point management committees in the operation and maintenance of infrastructure, including promoting women’s participation and leadership to ensure sustainable services
Health
- Greater and more reliable volumes of domestic water available for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene
- Hygiene behavior change training focused on handwashing to reduce water-related disease
- Low-cost hygiene and sanitation technologies are promoted, including handwashing stations
Livelihoods
- Increased access to water for productive uses increases income, food security and resilience
- Low-cost hand dug wells (rehabilitated or newly constructed) and rope pumps are promoted, which increase agricultural productivity of small gardens and provide a year-round source of income
- The provision of technical training, improved seed and plant varieties, agricultural extension services and marketing and value-chain development for moringa, cassava, cowpeas, and groundnuts increases agricultural production
- Technical and business support for women’s moringa cooperatives that produce a growing range of value added products such as soap, shampoo, moringa/shea butter, moringa leaf powder, and dried seeds for consumption
Environment
- Environmental mitigation and monitoring plan (EMMP) observed in the construction of new boreholes to ensure that they are not placed in an area at risk of contamination
- Communities trained on the protection and maintenance of their water source
- The use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers is prohibited around potable water points
- Farmers/market gardeners trained on alternate pest control and soil fertility management methods
What We’ve Learned
- Market-based small business development for affordable and desirable technologies and services is critical to the sustainability of the MUS approach.
- There is a high demand for water services in dispersed rural areas but communities have had mixed experiences with low-cost technologies in the past. Education and awareness around appropriate water technologies, working through the private sector, is essential to reaching full coverage.
- Building collaboration with local government structures from the beginning can result in a stronger MUS program.
Jump to: Burkina Faso, India, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania