The chairperson of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) Beata Awinpoka Akanyani has warned that the slow pace of progress in ensuring universal coverage of improved sanitation could obstruct Ghana’s ability to meet the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) target on sanitation by 2030.
Akanyani said at the ongoing MOLE XXXVII National WASH Conference that there is the need for the country to quicken the pace of coverage to ensure that last mile communities, including people and places too often excluded from reliable services: deprived rural communities, small towns, peri-urban areas, and informal settlements in urban areas, have access to improved toilets.
“Sanitation is the slowest area. At the 2015–2024 pace of about 1.2 points a year, basic sanitation would reach only about 39 percent by 2030, against an SDG target of universal coverage,” she warned.
According to the 2021 housing and population census, open defecation is still widespread in rural areas in Ghana at 31.3 percent, compared with an urban phenomenon of 8.9 percent making a national average of 17.7 percent.
The census recorded that 74 percent of households are without exclusive improved toilets and most households share toilets.
According to the census report, “32.5 percent shared one toilet and 23 percent used public toilets. Only 25.3 had an improved toilet of their own.”
Moreover, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency also reports rural and small-town water coverage of 61.87 percent in 2023, with access to water also a key influencer in having access to improved sanitation.
The CONIWAS chairperson, however, lauded the government for the decision to raise the District Assemblies Common Fund allocation for WASH to 20 percent, with 10 percent for potable water and 10 percent for environmental sanitation.
She also commended the government for securing a €323 million financing package, led by the European Investment Bank, for the Northern Ghana Water and Sanitation Project.
“The project will address long-standing water shortages in Tamale, Yendi and Damongo in the Northern and Savannah Regions, benefiting more than 1.4 million people, and will support faecal sludge treatment in Wa, Bolgatanga and Yendi. We look forward to its timely implementation and to the tangible benefits it will bring to communities,” she added.
Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs Minister Mahama Ayariga also came for commendation for championing the evacuation of the decades-old waste heap at Agbogbloshie in the Greater Accra Region.
The MOLE Conference was instituted in 1989 as a platform for consultation among the government, development partners, local and international NGOs, and community representatives on ways to ensure sustainable and equitable universal access to WASH services.
The theme for the 2026 edition taking place at Aqua Safari in Ada is “Accelerating Climate-Resilient WASH Service Delivery for Last-Mile Communities: Options, Strategies and Actions,” with CONIWAS as the lead organizer.
