Global Water Initiative assesses project impact in Ghana’s Upper West Region
A team of officials from Global Water Initiative (GWI) and its partner organizations from the USA have visited the Upper West Region to assess the impact of the projects on the lives of the people.
The GWI and its partners, namely Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Care International and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are engaged in the construction of boreholes, household latrines, dug-outs and provision of hand washing facilities for schools under the School Health Education Programme (SHEP).
Thirty-two communities in the Nadowli and Lawra district of the region have so far benefited from the GWI projects within the last four years
Led by Mr. Pedro Rubalcava, Director of Hispanic Ministries for Oregon Catholic Press, the team held a durbar with the people of Zambogu one of the beneficiary communities in the Nadowli District of the Upper West region on Thursday.
Mr Rubalcava, said the visit was to afford them the opportunity to assess the impact of the project to see the need for more support.
He expressed satisfaction that people in the beneficiary communities were now very much conscious about personal hygiene which according to him was the beginning of a healthy living and appealed to the people to take good care of the facilities.
Mr Thomas Awiapo, GWI Global Solidarity Coordinator, said CRS operates in 100 countries around the world and areas covered include health, water and sanitation, school feeding as well as financial management training for people.
He said this year 15 boreholes were provided for less privileged communities in both the Northern Region and Upper West Region to increase access to portable water.
Mr Attah Arhin, GWI Project Coordinator, said in the Upper West Region the project was operational in the Nadowli and Lawra Districts.
He said Water and Sanitation Committees (WATSAN) had been formed in all the communities to ensure that the borehole surroundings were clean and minor breakdowns repaired immediately by the people themselves.
Mr David Guori, Head Teacher of Zambogu Primary and Junior High School, commended GWI and its partners for providing the school and the community with boreholes and household latrines.
He said until the intervention of GWI and its collaborating partners, the community depended on guinea worm prone water bodies and defecated openly because of the lack of a single toilet facility in the community.
Mr Guori said through the GWI project, boreholes, household latrines as well as hand washing containers have been provided for both the community and the school making the sanitation situation in the community the best in many years.
He said community members now drank clean water and washed their hands with soap under running water immediately after using the toilet.
Source: GNA