Mr Harold Esseku, a Senior Sanitation Specialist at the World Bank, has noted it was possible for Ghana to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal Six (SDG 6) targets, despite the slow progress.
At the on-going 35th MOLE Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Conference in Ho, he highlighted the need for increased government funding, innovative financing mechanisms, and robust sector information systems to track progress and make data-driven decisions.
Mr Esseku pointed out that the current pace of achieving the SDG six was slow and stressed the importance of integrating climate adaptation and mitigation measures into WASH planning and ensuring infrastructure resilience to various climatic conditions.
The conference on the theme “Looking Back on SDG 6 Implementation in Ghana: Progress, Challenges and Way Forward,” served as a platform to discuss critical issues and chart a path forward to achieve the Goals.
Mr Esseku, although all Ghanaians acknowledged the critical nature of WASH to the country’s development with President Akufo-Addo recently signing the Presidential Compact on WASH, government funding for the sector remained inadequate.
“Funding for WASH has been Development Partner-led for many years.
“This is not sustainable.
It is my sincere hope that with the signing of the Compact, the government of Ghana will commit more of its internally generated revenue for funding of WASH,” he urged.
Mr Esseku also called for the WASH sector to develop innovative financing mechanisms and target non-traditional funding sources, keeping equity and sustainability as core principles.
He emphasised the need to strengthen systems for sustainable and universal service delivery, align and integrate all approaches into policies and strategies, and ensure that the views of all stakeholders were considered.
