Improving sanitation & hygiene practices in Ghana

The Project aimed to improve the sanitation and hygiene practices of an estimated 112,500 poor and vulnerable persons.

With a grant of US$ 2,850,000.00 provided by the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) through the World Bank, SNV implemented this project in 4 districts in the Northern region of Ghana, namely: Tamale Metropolis, Saboba, West Gonja and East Gonja districts. A total of 75 communities and 46 schools are beneficiaries of the project. The 3 year project agreement was signed between the World Bank and SNV Ghana in Accra on 28th August 2013 and it ended in August 2016.

The Project aimed to improve the sanitation and hygiene practices of an estimated 112,500 poor and vulnerable persons in the four beneficiary districts. This would be achieved through the application of innovative approaches in the sanitation sector such as the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and the Village Savings and Loans Schemes (VSLAs). The project had four components:

• Sanitation demand creation

• Investing in household latrines

• Investing in school latrines and

• Project Management and Knowledge Dissemination.

The project grant complemented other World Bank-funded rural water and sanitation projects such as the current $75 million Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project (SRWSP) implemented by Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), to accelerate the pace of attainment of the MDG for sanitation in Ghana.

The project directly benefitted a total of 90,365 people, representing 80% of the target project development objective beneficiaries of 112,500 people. Even though the target number of beneficiaries was not entirely reached, over 90% of the project expected outputs were achieved and exceeded in some cases.