Quarterly Report: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Health Project

The goal of the project is to accelerate sustainable improvement in water and sanitation access and improve hygiene behaviors in target districts. This goal will be achieved through six mutually-reinforcing objectives, also referred to as components. The project has established offices in Accra, Takoradi, Tamale, and Ho, with a fully operational setup for project activities. Selection criteria were developed to select 30 beneficiary districts in the five regions of Northern, Volta, Central, Western, and Greater Accra. Project inception meetings were held with all stakeholders from these districts, and community selection criteria were developed with the stakeholders to guide community selection for project activities. The WASH for Health team, together with staff from the selected districts, have used the community selection criteria to select communities and have validated a communities list for project implementation starting in fiscal year 2016. The project aims to address the health effects of inadequate or nonexistent WASH services on people across Ghana. Countrywide water supply coverage is high, at 85%, but marked geographic disparities exist. Districts in the Northern, Central, and Volta Regions are among the most poorly served in terms of potable water coverage, averaging about 65%. Regarding sanitation, virtually all regions are faring very poorly, though it is more pronounced in the Northern, Upper East, and Upper West Regions with nearly 75% of all households lacking access to safe sanitation, and practicing open defecation. The project seeks to accelerate sustainable improvement in water and sanitation access and to improve hygiene behaviors in target districts through six mutually-reinforcing objectives. The six components of the project include increased use of improved household sanitation, improved community water supply services, improved sector governance and policies, expanded key hygiene behaviors, leveraged public, private, partnership (PPP) investment to magnify the impact of United States Government (USG) funding, and improved water supply and sanitation infrastructure for schools and health facilities. The project has developed a FY16 work plan with budgets, which has been finalized and submitted to USAID for approval. The project offices are fully operational, and the project team is working with stakeholders to implement project activities. The project has identified the need to improve WASH infrastructure at schools, hospitals, and other public institutions. The project aims to provide water and sanitation infrastructure across the country, with a focus on institutions like schools and healthcare centers. The project has developed a plan to address the health effects of inadequate or nonexistent WASH services on people across Ghana, with a focus on improving water and sanitation access and hygiene behaviors in target districts. The project has established offices in Accra, Takoradi, Tamale, and Ho, with a fully operational setup for project activities.