Ghana: Provision of Water And Sanitation Facilities Reduce Scuffles in Nima

Public Agenda (Accra)

Gifty Mensah

11 June 2010

Some residents of Nima, a suburb of Accra, have expressed their appreciation to the Corporative Housing Foundation (CHF) International and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for providing the Nima community with four water points and 15 toilets. According to them, the facilities have eased the problem of congestion at various pipe stands and public lavatories. Previously, congestions resulted in scuffles, they claimed in separate interviews with Public Agenda during fun games organized in the Nima community recently by the CHF International under its flagship project called 'Water Access and Sanitation Hygiene for the Urban Poor (WASH-UP)'.

Assembly Member for Nima East, Shareau Tajudeen, told Public Agenda that CHF's intervention was timely, scaling up the provision of basic needs in terms of water and sanitation facilities. He recalled that "the typical problem facing Nima was mostly water and sanitation." He assured that the community members would take care of the facilities to serve as incentive to the providers to do more for the community.

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The Accra District Mothers Club Facilitator, Miriam Sailifu, explained to Public Agenda that CHF has come to enhance the activities of the mothers club which was set up about 15 years ago in the Nima community to mobilize and educate women on the need for clean environment. She said that presently the mothers club was facilitating some activities of CHF within the community and that the activity of the organization was a boost to the community's health programme. She commended the Foundation for supporting the community, urging it to continue the good works of hygiene promotion and improving the lives of urban poor settlers. According to Alhaji Abu Garba, the Chairman for the Water and Sanitation Board, the CHF had come to the community to improve the lives of Nima residents through behavioral change.

He said the CHF has organized several training programmes for the Water Board, giving the Board members a broader knowledge on water and sanitation. Consequently, Nima, which hitherto was perceived to be unhygienic, could now boast of improved sanitation, he stated. Mr. Philip Francis Ampadu, Program Director, WASH-UP project, noted that the objective for the project was to provide water, public and household toilets for six communities including Nima, Newtown, Avenor and Ayidiki, all in Accra.