The Awutu-Senya East Municipal Assembly (ASEMA) and the citizens of Kasoa, one of the fastest growing towns in the Central Region, have resolved to tackle environmental sanitation and hygiene problems in the area.
This was arrived at during sensitisation policy programmes embarked upon by Intervention Forum, a non-governmental organisation, under its Voice for Change (V4C) partnership project at Kasoa.
The project is an evidence-based advocacy programme being implemented by SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation) in collaboration with the International Food and Policy Research Institute and funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The five-year project is being implemented by SNV together with its local partners made up of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Ghana and other developing countries.
The project aims at strengthening the capacities of local CSOs to generate reliable and relevant data to carry out evidence-based advocacy for sustainable improvements in key focus areas such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), renewable energy, food security and nutrition.
The WASH component of the project, which is basically an advocacy one, and dubbed: ‘Ghana Sanitation and Hygiene for all (SH4ALL), is directed at intensifying the voice of CSOs and citizenry to demand more equitable, affordable and sustainable sanitation and hygiene services and improved policy implementation at the district level.
It is, thus, targeting various stakeholders like the ASEMA, traditional authorities, waste management companies, microfinance institutions and banks, community-based organisations, assembly members, unit committees, and the media.
Madam Nora Ollennu, the Chief Executive Officer of Intervention Forum, said the NGO has worked over a decade to improve the circumstances of deprived rural communities through capacity building programmes and was one of four local implementing partners of the WASH in the ASEMA.
She said at two consecutive meetings organised by Intervention Forum in collaboration with the ASEMA, the citizens listed their major concerns and prioritized them for redress to ensure good environmental, sanitation and hygiene practices to rid the municipality of filth and diseases.
Madam Ollennu said topmost among the list were poor drainage, poor sanitation, lack of access roads and security, inadequate water supply, educational and health facilities, as well as gambling and illegal structures.
This sprawling township, swelled up by increasing numbers of both workers and retired public and civil servants, has been overwhelmed by tonnes of waste generated daily from the activities of the people, particularly the markets and lorry stations within the Municipality.
She said Intervention Forum has, through various working sessions, strengthened the capacities of the citizenry or stakeholders to identify and help solve their own problems to enhance their quality of life.
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(Via: Ghana/Accra News)