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Thursday 7 May 2015

POSITION PAPER 
WATER AND WATER -RELATED SANITATION SECTOR
GHANA IN FOCUS
Water and Sanitation sector overview in Ghana

INTRODUCTION
The water sector of Ghana is defined to include the following sub sectors:
  • Urban water delivery including water supply service in peri urban communities;
  • Rural and small towns water delivery; 
  • Basic sanitation and hygiene in rural areas; and
  • Water resources management
This position paper deals with the above defined within the context of the National Water Policy (2007), Ghana Water Vision 2025, and the Water Sector Strategic Development Plan 2012- 2025. It sets out the current state and challenges specific to the sub-sectors, the issues general to the sector that also need to be addressed, and the strategies in the planning, development and management of the nation’s water resources and in the delivery of sustainable water supply and water related sanitation services. 
The ultimate goal is to realize the vision of the water sector “sustainable water and basic sanitation for all by 2025”, which means ensuring that “all people living in Ghana have access to adequate, safe, affordable and reliable water service, practise safe sanitation and hygiene and that water resources are sustainably managed”.

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
Ghana’s institutional framework for the water sector is quite well structured. 
-    The Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing (MWRWH) through its Water Directorate is responsible for providing leadership for sector activities in policy development, implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation.  
-     Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) facilitate water supply and sanitation delivery for rural communities and small towns.
-         Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) undertakes urban water supply.
-          Water Resources Commission (WRC) oversees water resources regulation and management.
-         Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) provides pricing regulation for urban water supply.
-  The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) through its Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) coordinates environmental sanitation, while the School Health Education Program (SHEP) under the Ghana Education Service coordinates water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in schools.
-        The Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) is an umbrella organisation to ensure harmony in the activities of Civil Society Organisations and to align their operations within the sector. In addition to harmonisation and alignment, CONIWAS serves as a general advocacy organisation for its members to promote dialogue between sector CSOs, government and other stakeholders.

CURRENT STATUS AND CHALLENGES OF THE WATER SECTOR

Urban and Peri-Urban Water Service Delivery
The provider-based data from the Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL) indicates that urban water coverage was 58% percent for 2008 and 62.9% by 2012.  About twenty years ago, the urban population of Ghana was about 5.6 million or 36 percent of the total population, but per the 2010 population census it is about 12.2 million or a little over 50%.   Despite this significant increase in the urban population with a water demand of 1,125,253m3/day, GWCL operates 83 water systems with a total production of about 707,783m3/day.  
In the majority of urban areas, water is rationed due to the high demand and inadequate supply. Customer satisfaction ranges from excellent to very poor depending on location of the customer, but most significantly the institutionalization of rationing programme is negatively affecting socio-economic growth.  Clearly, systems that were designed to service the 5.6 million population will have to be modified to be able to service the population today.  With an anticipated increase in population especially in urban areas, additional investments should be provided to meet future increase in demand for water services.
It is significant to note that there is lack of proper metering of urban water production and consumption by GWCL and therefore data available are estimates by GWCL.  At the end of 2012 the average monthly sales were just about 10,861,000 m3.  GWCL still records significantly high non-revenue water averaging about 50% and has a bill collection ratio of about 90%. The bill collection ratio is also lower than the benchmark of 96% and 99.2% for low and middle-income country peer groups.
The proportion of non-revenue water is more than twice the international best practice levels of 20 % and even the benchmark of 33% for the low-income country peer group. There are two explanations for this. One is the ageing distribution infrastructure that is full of leaks. The other is high non-technical loss due to large-scale theft from the distribution network, sometimes for the purposes of secondary retailing of water sachets.
Unstable electricity supply, encroachment, illegal small scale mining activities (“galamsey”), delay in payment of compensation, rationing and its effects on equipment and mounting customer indebtedness are also other factors that have affected efficiency of operations of GWCL thus leading to unsustainable urban water service delivery.
Appropriate metering of water production and consumption will have to be established. There is also the need to create stronger incentives for GWCL to address the issue of non-revenue water and to improve water production levels, distribution network and bill collection to improve service delivery.
Government is seeking to improve water service delivery in peri urban areas and low income communities, but a lot more work needs to be done in defining peri urban areas, establish current water supply levels and supply options and strategies for providing water service to these areas. A study by PURC concluded that the majority of the poor are un-served directly by GWCL except through informal services or secondary and tertiary sources.
The key challenges limiting urban and peri-urban water service delivery are summarised as follows:
-       Large supply-demand gap
-       Obsolete plants and equipment as well as overage transmission and distribution lines
-       Inadequate distribution network in outlying districts
-       Inadequate funding for investment
-       High non-revenue water (billing shortfall)
-       Low metering ratio
-    Unstable power supply at some treatment plants e.g. Daboase, Barekese, Kwanyako and Mampong
-       Land acquisition issues e.g. compensations, lack of access and encroachment
-      Poor physical planning and lack of co-operation among relevant agencies (e.g. Town and Country Planning Dept)
-       Low tariffs
Rural and Small Towns Water Service
The thrust of the National Community Water and Sanitation Programme (NCWSP) is the community ownership and management (COM) of the water and sanitation facilities installed in the beneficiary rural and small town communities and the use of the private sector to support the process.
The national rural and small towns water coverage at the end of 2011 was 63.34% from a baseline of 40% in the year 2000.  In the rural and small towns water sub-sector, although communities are responsible for operation and maintenance of water facilities, responsibility for water quality monitoring as well as major rehabilitation and replacement of infrastructure is yet to be clarified.  Thus, it is estimated that between 12% and 20% of water facilities in rural communities and small towns are either non functional or function below the expected standards at any given time.  CWSA is yet to have adequate data on functionality of water systems and when water facilities were installed.  This affects planning for operation and maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement of facilities that may have outlived their lifespan.  
Water supply technology options remain limited to:
-       Hand dug wells (fitted with or without pumps),
-       Boreholes (fitted with any of the four (4) standardised pumps),
-       Spring catchment systems,
-       Limited mechanisation (i.e. mechanised boreholes with limited distribution), and
-       Piped schemes (especially for small towns)
There are also very limited self supply initiatives and rainwater harvesting systems. Very little consideration has been given to addressing the needs of persons with disability in the design of water supply systems. It has been established that the unit cost of water service delivery in Ghana is relatively higher as compared to other countries in Sub Saharan Africa.  There is room for developing more affordable and disability friendly technology options to reduce the unit cost of water service in rural areas and small towns.
CWSA has been able to establish a private sector managed distribution system of hand pump spare parts for the four (4) recognised hand pumps in Ghana. Sales outlets have been opened in all the ten regions and the private operator has completed the repayment of the seed funds provided to kick-start the network. According to CWSA, the privatised network is becoming financially sustainable and will stay operational when subsidies to the private operator end in the near future.
However, the rural and small towns water service delivery faces a number of challenges including the following:
Budget Constraints: CWSA has not always received the full complement of its approved Annual Budget either from government or its development partners over the years. This has always been the case for Administration, Service and the Investments components of the budget. The 2010 budget approval and releases clearly demonstrate the challenge with budget releases. For instance, of the GH¢3.8 million approved for Investments, only GH¢0.42 million was paid out to contractors and consultants; no amount from the approved budget for Services was made available; and less than 50 percent of the Administration budget was dispensed to the Agency.
Again in 2011 the entire Service budget was not made available, and only GH¢544,459 of the approved Investments budget of GH¢1,901,633 was disbursed to the Agency. Given the situation where the government is unable to release the full complement of Administration budget, CWSA is unable to track budget performance and to monitor the performance of contractors in the field. 
Limited capacity at District Assembly Level for water and sanitation delivery: District Assemblies do not have the requisite capacity (water and sanitation engineers and hydrogeologists) to effectively implement water and sanitation projects. Apart from the fact that the District Works Departments, which are expected to replace the District Water and Sanitation Teams, have not been set up in many districts, the frequent transfer of staff trained on water and sanitation issues, adversely affects the management of water and sanitation projects in the districts.
Hydro-geological Problems: Difficult Hydro-geological terrain results in low success rate in borehole drilling. This problem is pronounced in the Voltaian Basin, which covers the Northern region and parts of northern Volta. As a result of this situation some of the projects are unable to attain their targets. There is also the technical challenge associated with mud drilling within parts of the Brong Ahafo region.

Water Safety: There are a number of water safety (mainly water quality) issues militating against safe drinking water delivery.  These include high iron, manganese, arsenic and fluoride found in water in some parts of the country. Even in areas with excellent success rates for drilling, the chemical content in the water is normally higher than the recommended levels, making it impossible for pumps to be installed on those wells for the use of the communities. A good number of high yielding wells have thus been capped, especially in the Northern and Upper East regions due to high levels of fluoride in these wells. In the coastal regions, salinity of borehole water is a constraining factor.
Sustainability of Service Delivery: The issue of sustainability of the water and sanitation systems that have been provided to the small communities and small towns is key. The expectation of CWSA is that these facilities will function at optimal capacity through and beyond their design life span. Current developments in the sector however threaten the sustainability of these systems. These developments include:
-       Inability of Water and Sanitation Management Teams to set realistic tariffs
-       Non-payment of institutional bills (by government institutions); and
-       Inadequate personnel and logistics for monitoring operations and maintenance of existing systems
 
Basic Sanitation and Hygiene
Data reported by the UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Ghana indicates that about 20% of the entire country’s population practises open defecation. The practice is dominant in the three regions in Northern Ghana (Northern Region, Upper East & Upper West Regions) where more than 70% of the population practise open defecation.
There is also a weak culture (especially in the rural areas) for individual household latrine ownership in Ghana. A high proportion (almost 51%) of Ghanaians use shared latrines, which according to the JMP of WHO/UNICEF, is classified as unimproved. Ghana intends conducting research into the shared latrine phenomenon with a view to developing an agreed national definition for sanitation coverage.  The national sanitation coverage rate was estimated at about 13% in 2008. The implication is that it will require enormous effort for the country to achieve the MDG target of 53% sanitation coverage by 2015.
Among the approaches for sanitation promotion are Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) based on sanitation ladder and the social-marketing techniques, which are complemented with the establishment of sanitation markets. Communities are assisted to attain and sustain an Open Defecation Free (ODF) status whilst the capacity of the private sector is strengthened to support construction of sanitation facilities. There is therefore a shift from provision of subsidy to community ownership, mutual support and local solutions for sanitation behavioural change.
 The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has prepared a National Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plan (NESSAP) and accompanying Strategic Environmental Sanitation Investment Plan (SESIP) to guide investments in the sector towards implementing the NESSAP.  NESSAP seeks to adopt Community Led Total Sanitation as a fast means of accelerating the population’s access and use of basic sanitation.
As a result, a national rural sanitation model and costed scaling up strategy has been developed but is yet to be implemented.  A national hand washing with soap strategy has also been developed by CWSA and is being implemented in collaboration with the private sector and allied agencies since 2005.

Water Resources Management
The country could be described as well endowed with rainfall, lakes, perennial rivers and limited but substantial groundwater resources. However, seasonal shortages are quite common and the sustainability of this water endowment is threatened by natural phenomena such as extreme spatial and temporal variability of climate and rainfall, coupled with potential effects of a changing climate, growing water scarcity, and trends towards desertification in the north.
Water quality considerations have become increasingly important due to environmental problems arising from human activities leading to land degradation, waste discharges from domestic, municipal, industrial (including mining) and agricultural sources into rivers and aquifers. In addition to these, other issues such as conflicts in the use of water; a lack of consultation and co-operation mechanism in the use of international water resources; inability to implement existing rules and regulations for water resources management; poor financing of the water resources agencies etc. have also come to the fore.
In resolving these water resources management issues, Ghana has during the years from the first conceptual emergence of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the early 1990s, put in place a good part of the basic policy, legal and institutional frameworks, which eventually will sustain the implementation of IWRM in the country.
Some notable programmes and actions already in place include:
-       The establishment of the Water Resources Commission by an Act of parliament in 1996;
-       The adoption of the 2007 National Water Policy (NWP);
-       The development of five river basin IWRM plans and set up of five corresponding River Basin Boards (RBBs) between 2003 and 2012;
-       Development of a national IWRM plan;
-       The active involvement with neighbouring countries on trans-boundary issues on the Volta Basin; and
-       In addition, substantial capacity building has taken place within the key institutions involved in water resources management over the past 15 years.
Despite the progress made in the management of water resources there are challenges and constraints that need to be addressed. These include:
·       Inadequate enforcement of existing regulations and permit conditions to improve water quality in particular;
  • Inadequate regulations on control of discharge of effluent from industrial and domestic sources;
  • Inadequate data and information on surface and groundwater quantity as well as water quality;
  • Inadequate skilled human resources for IWRM at all levels;
  • Climate change and climate variability impacts on water and other natural resources are inadequately described and insufficiently incorporated in sectoral water management strategies;
  • Sustaining public awareness and education towards promoting positive actions on water resources;
  • Many activities in river basins leading to catchment degradation and poor water quality are unregulated (e.g. buffer zone policy is yet to be implemented);
  • Systems for early warning and mitigation of effects from floods and droughts are inadequate;
  • New protocols with Côte d’Ivoire on the joint management of the Aby Lagoon-Bia-Tano basins system and with Togo on shared groundwater resources are yet to be established; and
CROSS-CUTTING CHALLENGES
Governance: In terms of governance, considerable progress has been made in institutional reforms and alignment of institutions in the water sector. For instance, the involvement of MMDAs and communities in the management of rural and small towns water and sanitation facilities within the framework of the National Community Water and Sanitation Programme (NCWSP) and the establishment of the Water Directorate and Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate at the MWRWH and MLGRD respectively are key milestones that have improved governance in the water sector.
However, there are governance issues worth noting. Reporting on sector progress and tracking of investments by all stakeholders including Development Partners (DPs), Government and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the sector has been weak. It is quite difficult to track allocation and expenditure on investments by Government and DPs in the water sector due to lack of a harmonised system for disbursement of funds. There is very little information on the contribution of NGOs to the water sector due to weak regulatory and reporting framework. There is room for improving collaboration between MMDAs and sub sector institutions especially the interface between MMDAs and GWCL in urban water delivery.
With support from CWSA, MMDAs and communities have established sub district level structures to manage existing water and sanitation facilities. However, the degree of functionality of these sub district level structures and systems (such as Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Committees, Water and Sanitation Development Boards (WSDBs), Area Mechanics and Latrine Artisans) to manage existing water and sanitation facilities begins to wane with the withdrawal of project support by CWSA. WATSAN Committees and WSDBs have been sustainable where they are provided adequate post project technical support when a project ends. In most instances however, the reverse has been the case i.e. limited or no post project support resulting in non-functioning WATSAN Committees/WSDBs.
Within the framework of managing the country’s water resources, WRC is facilitating the establishment of River Basin Boards (RBBs) and offices as the decentralised management structure to oversee the regulation and management of water resources at the basin level. Unfortunately, the WRC has been unable to establish all the RBBs due to limited capacity and funding.
Institutional Capacity: The Water Directorate does not have the required staffing and budgetary allocation from Government and this affects its capacity to support MWRWH to provide leadership on sector issues.  Furthermore, there is the need to appraise and develop capacity of GWCL, CWSA and WRC to enable them perform their functions effectively and efficiently.
GWCL will require capacity building support to improve urban water service delivery i.e. production, distribution, revenue collection and customer care. CWSA will require capacity building support in terms of human, financial and logistical resources at the national and regional level to effectively play a facilitator role and in the near future, to regulate the rural and small towns sub sector. This is on account of the increasing number of districts CWSA has had to deal with and emerging challenges with rural and small towns’ water service delivery. As indicated WRC needs capacity building support for setting up and operating the RBBs.
Coordination: There is consensus and commitment among sector stakeholders towards a Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) for the sector to effectively align and harmonise interventions in the water sector. The code of conduct under the SWAp has been signed among stakeholders, while a country assessment study has been finalised to establish the financing mechanism and arrangements under the SWAp. Coordination among MWRWH, MoFEP, MLGRD and DPs needs to be strengthened especially through sharing of information and ensuring that the water sector is given more priority in Government’s budgetary allocation.
Finance:  Government makes contributions towards services and investment costs in all the water sector agencies, but the allocations have been inadequate. The variation in government budgeted and actual releases have been as high as 95% in some instances. This affects the performance of sector institutions and results in delays with implementation of planned interventions. In April 2010, Government declared water and sanitation as essential services, signed the Ghana Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) Compact and made a commitment to invest $350 million annually to accelerate progress towards achievement of the MDG targets. This commitment is yet to materialise.
There is limited financing for investments and renewal of assets by GWCL. As a result, GWCL has been unable to provide satisfactory service to its customers. There are lifeline tariffs and subsidies as a means of improving access to water services to the poor. These measures have been poorly targeted and as a result, the subsidies benefit the rich rather than the poor.
Sector financing is still “new infrastructure focused” with little attention to post construction cost and incremental cost by implementing agencies. In a study of investments in the rural and small towns’ water sector since the inception of NCWSP, it was established that investments in new facilities accounted for 58% of investments in the rural and small towns sub sector as compared to 48% for rehabilitation works. The absorptive capacity of some sector agencies and the private sector in utilising investments in the sector is also weak owing to human, procurement, and other logistical constraints.
There is also a generally low financial resource allocation for water and sanitation activities at the district level. In a study of selected MMDAs in six regions by the Water Sector Monitoring Platform, it was established that MMDAs utilised between 0.01% and 5.4% of proceeds from their District Assemblies Common Fund in 2008 for interventions in water and sanitation.
In effect, the water sector requires increased financial investment from government and other non-traditional funding sources including private sector financing to ensure sustainable financing of the sector given the fact that upon attaining lower middle-income status, DP support in the form of grants is likely to decrease.

STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

A number of strategies have been outlined to address the existing and emerging challenges facing the water sector by way of planning, development and management of the nation’s water resources and in the delivery of equitable and sustainable water supply and water related sanitation services.  These cover the period 2012-2025.

Water Service Delivery

In order to meet the MDG targets (76% coverage in rural/small towns and 85% coverage in urban areas by 2015) and attain universal coverage in water service by 2025, new investments and rehabilitation works in the urban water sub sector and in the rural and small towns’ water sub sector are proposed. In implementing planned investments, priority will be given to providing water services in un-served areas, peri urban and low-income communities.
The planned investments in water services in both rural and urban water sectors have been informed by projection of water demand and population increases over the planning horizon i.e. 2012-2015 and 2016 to 2025 as captured in the Strategic Investment Plans of CWSA and GWCL. Government is to leverage the required financing from domestic and external sources to implement the proposed investments to improve service delivery.  With the implementation of proposed investments in both the rural/small towns and urban sub sectors, it is expected that all households will receive at least a basic level of water service in Ghana by 2025.
Government will develop and implement a national water safety plan to address challenges with water quality monitoring across all subsectors i.e. urban, rural, and water resources management. The framework will build on work already done by PURC, CWSA and the Ghana Standards Authority and will be anchored within the existing framework for water quality monitoring.

Urban Water Service

In the urban water sub sector, reduction in non-revenue water is critical to improving service delivery. The strategy is to institute measures to reduce non-revenue water from the current 50% to 45% in 2015 and 33% by 2025.
  • Firstly, the appropriate metering of water production and consumption must be pursued. This will ensure the availability of the required data in order to track water production and losses along the distribution chain. This measure must also be complemented with the introduction and scaling up of zonal metering to track leakages and theft within the distribution network.
  • Secondly, carry out an institutional capacity assessment that will inform the design and implementation of a capacity building plan and institutional reforms for GWCL. These activities are expected to address work ethics, customer care and efficiency in service delivery among staff.
  • Thirdly, GWCL must be supported to further decentralise its operations and strengthen collaboration with MMDAs and sub district level structures.
  • Fourthly, provide the required financing for rehabilitation, upgrading and expansion of the all the 83 urban water systems being managed by GWCL as captured in the GWCL SIP to reduce leakages.
  • Fifthly, the current urban water tariff is set to include a non-revenue water component or loss of 45%. The PURC must be supported to progressively reduce the proportion of non-revenue water component on water tariffs to 40% by 2020 and 33% by 2025. This will ensure that GWCL’s inefficiencies are not passed on to consumers through the upward adjustment of tariffs and also inject efficiency in urban service delivery.
Peri Urban and Low Income Communities Water Service
There is the need to map out low income urban and peri urban communities which are currently un-served and under-served with potable water supply and develop a framework for targeting the poor, address the “compound housing effect” of lifeline tariffs on the poor and improving water service delivery in low income communities. 
In order to improve water service delivery in peri urban water areas, the options to be considered include the following:
·               WSDB management of a water facility or distribution of bulk water supply from GWCL or community owned network;
·              Area Council/Unit Committee management of a water facility or bulk water supply from GWCL or community owned network; and
·       Private operator management of a water facility or bulk water supply from GWCL or community owned network.

Rural and Small Towns Water Service
Investments in the rural water sub sector over the years have focused on new investments rather than rehabilitation, and operation and maintenance of existing facilities. Hence, the strategy is to create a database on all water facilities, establish their functionality and their respective dates of installation.
The outcome will be used in designing an elaborate programme to rehabilitate and replace facilities that have outlived their lifespan. 

Water Related Sanitation and Hygiene Service

CWSA is to facilitate the implementation of the rural sanitation programme under the WSSDP and within the framework of the NESSAP and related implementation documents and policies notably:
  • The National Sanitation Model and Scaling Up Strategy: has been developed based on a three pronged approach of sanitation marketing; Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) for changing attitudes towards safe hygiene and sanitation practices and triggering demand for and use of household latrines; and providing microcredit through rural and community banks and micro finance institutions to support household latrine construction;
  • The National Hand washing with Soap: seeks to promote hand washing with soap practice through an active partnership between the public and private sectors; and
  • The national household water treatment and safe storage strategy: seeks to promote household water treatment technologies and approaches as a means to improving hygiene.

 Water Resources Management

Under water resources management five (5) key strategies are to be pursued:
-       Strengthen the regulatory and institutional framework for managing and protecting water resources for water security and enhancing resilience to climate change
-       Enhance public awareness and education in water resource management issues
-       Improve access to water resources knowledge base to facilitate water resources planning and decision making
-       Improve transboundary and international cooperation in the management of shared water resources
-       Ensure gender equity in water resources management and planning

CROSS CUTTING STRATEGIES/INTERVENTIONS
The Private Sector
The private sector is to play the following role in delivery of goods, services and works in the water sector.
-    Participation in operation and maintenance of water systems as well as financing arrangements e.g. Build, Own and Operate (BOO), Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) etc.
-    Provide hygiene and sanitation facilities at the household and institutional levels in the area of basic sanitation. The private sector will supply the required household and institutional sanitation facilities as a result of the expected demand through the adoption of CLTS approach to sanitation and hygiene promotion.
-    Implement a microcredit scheme through rural community banks and microfinance institutions to provide loans to households for household latrine construction.
-     Provide microcredit for the construction of 50,000 household latrines annually to contribute to improving access to safe sanitation facilities.
-    Provide financial support for developing buffer strips that would serve as alternative livelihood source and protect the water bodies.

Financing
An estimated US$237 million in capital investment (CAPEX) is required annually for water supply. Estimated requirements for sanitation are higher, at US$406 million per year, a substantial part of which the government expects to be borne by households. It is clear that anticipated spending will not be enough to achieve the sector targets and that increased and more innovative financing, sector planning, better targeting, greater efficiency, and cost recovery approaches will be needed to address identified gaps.  The following strategic mechanisms needs to be explored to improving financing the water sector:
-         Create a uniform treasury system involving the use of country system to channel funds for financing all investments, including those in the water and sanitation sector.
-         Be committed to increasing public sector funding of the water sector especially the rural and small towns water sub sector and the water resources management sub sector.
-         Leverage more financing for sector activities through increased budgetary allocations, grants, loans and private sector financing. It is expected that Government’s contribution to investments for the rural water/small towns and water resources sub-sectors will reach 30% by 2015, 50% by 2020 and 100% by 2025.
-         Explore private sector financing arrangement such as Build, Operate and Own (BOO) and Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) within the framework for private sector participation in the rural and small towns’ water sector. Target is to secure private sector financing to the tune of about 5% of sector investments by 2015.  
-         Support measures to improve the financial viability of GWCL in order to meet full operation and maintenance cost and for rehabilitation.
-         Be committed to ensuring that urban consumers progressively bear the full cost of rehabilitation of urban water systems. 
-         Rural water development levy payment to CWSA to be tied to revenue inflows to GWCL. This will improve financing of CWSA activities in the rural and small towns sub sector.
-         Allocate 1% of the cost of new investments in water services for water resources management. This will ensure that the water resource potential of the source of water supply is preserved. The funds will be utilised to design and implement a water resource management programme as an accompanying intervention with new investments.  
-         At the district level MMDAs are to allocate resources for investment in water and sanitation service delivery and bear the cost of major rehabilitation works and replacement of water facilities that have outlived their lifespan. This support will be complemented with the implementation of follow up training programmes for community level structures (e.g. WATSANs and WSDBs) every four (4) years to ensure 95% and 98% functionality of rural and small towns’ water systems by 2015 and 2025 respectively. MMDAs will ensure that WSDBs allocate adequate funds for major rehabilitation and replacement of small towns’ piped schemes.
-          Explore different possibilities for the creation of a financing mechanism to cover the costs of capital maintenance expenditure in small-town systems. This will include liaising with the National Insurance Commission to explore the possibility of getting insurance companies to provide insurance cover for existing water facilities. If feasible, MMDAs are encouraged to insure existing water facilities in their respective areas of jurisdiction. This will contribute to ensuring that water facilities are utilised over their full lifespan.

Knowledge Management
Interventions targeted to improve knowledge management are:
-       Support research on cost saving measures, innovations and best practices in water and sanitation service delivery. Research areas or topics will come from the various water sector agencies and departments as well as civil society and the private sector.
-       The existing National Learning Alliance platform is to be strengthened and extended to the regional and district levels. The district level learning alliance sessions will also provide the platform for discussing reports on the activities of WSDBs.
-       Undertake periodic (every 4 years) sector specific surveys similar to and in between the timing of Multiple Indicator Custer Survey (MICS) and Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) and covering rural, small towns and urban water supply, basic sanitation and hygiene.
Gender Mainstreaming
-      As part of capacity building support measures WATSAN Committees/WSDBs are to be trained on the complementary roles of both sexes in water and sanitation service delivery.
-    Women are to be encouraged to take up leadership positions in water and sanitation service delivery in both rural and small towns.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Set up a National Monitoring and Evaluation Coordination Group with clear terms of reference. The M&E Coordination Group will prepare an M&E plan, system and strategy for the sector.


Summary of Key Strategies
Strategic Area
Objectives
Key Strategies
Urban & Peri Urban Water Service

Improve access to water services especially for all in urban and peri urban areas
1. Increase water services in low income and peri urban communities 
2. Improve water production and distribution system
Rural & Small Towns Water Service
Improve access to wa
ter services in rural and small towns
1. Provide new water facilities in under-served and un-served rural areas and small towns
2. Institute appropriate mechanism for rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of existing facilities
Rural and Small Towns Sanitation & Hygiene Service
Maximise health benefits through integration of water, sanitation and hygiene education interventions
Promote safe sanitation and hygiene practices in all water beneficiary institutions and communities;

Water Resources Management
Strengthen the regulatory and institutional framework for managing and protecting water resources for water security and enhancing resilience to climate change
1 Enhance the policy framework for IWRM
2. Enhance the implementation of existing regulations on WRM
3. Develop and implement additional regulations on Dam Safety and Effluent discharges
4. Ensure the protection and conservation of river basins and wetlands for water security as well as enhanced resilience and adaptation to climate change
Enhance public awareness and education in water resource management issues
Strengthen communication campaigns and education to stimulate interest and promote support for WRM-related initiatives
Improve access to water resources knowledge base to facilitate water resources planning and decision making
1 Improve hydrological and meteorological data and information management
2 Promote scientific investigations and research in water resources assessment, management and development.
Improve transboundary and international cooperation in the management of shared water resources
Facilitate the development of bilateral and multilateral agreements/ protocols to strengthen cooperation with riparian countries in shared basins

Institutional Capacity Development and Governance
1. Ensure that all institutional structures perform their roles efficiently and effectively
2. Ensure that the water sector operates in a transparent and accountable manner
3. Ensure an effectively harmonised and aligned water sector
1. Strengthen capacity of all institutional structures
2. Facilitate timely reporting and participatory discussion of results/issues in the water sector;
3. Institute appropriate mechanism to track funds flow and investment in the sector.
4. Development and implementation of a sector coordination framework


Finance

Ensure sustainable financing of investment and operation and maintenance cost of water services
1. Periodic review of urban water tariffs to reflect full operation and maintenance cost of service delivery
2. Attract private sector financing for investment and operation and maintenance of water services
3. Implement measures to reduce non-revenue water
4. Create a mechanism for financing capital maintenance expenditure for rural and small-town systems


Knowledge Management, Gender and M&E
1. Promote generation, sharing and utilization of knowledge relevant to the water sector
2. Provide evidence-based data and knowledge to improve decision making in the water sector
3.  Ensure gender equity in   participation in water and sanitation issues at all levels
1. Support research, dissemination and discussion of research results on key issues affecting water and sanitation service delivery
2. Promote scientific investigations and research in water resources assessment, management and development.
3. Development and operationalisation of a national M&E system to track sector progress
4. Empowering both sexes to appreciate their complementary roles in water and sanitation service delivery as well as water resources management.



 ENOCH OFOSU
 blessedenoch@gmail.com