Events Archives - Community Water and Sanitation Agency

ToR for Consultancy Services: Development of a Framework to Optimize the Operations ff Pipe Water Systems Under CWSA Management and Reforms

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
- OVERVIEW

The Community Water Services Sub-sector has since 1994, operated under the guidance of the National Community Water and Sanitation Programme (NCWSP). The NCWSP was launched in 1994 and temporarily facilitated by the Community Water and Sanitation Division, of the then Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation. In 1998, The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) was established by an Act of Parliament, Act 564 with the mandate to facilitate the provision of safe drinking water and related sanitation services to rural communities and small towns and to coordinate all stakeholders and interventions towards the implementation of NCWSP.

Transforming The Rural WASH Sub-Sector for Sustainably: CWSA Develops New Community Water Services Policy as Part of it’s Reform Process

(BY MRS. PAULINE ESTELLA PEBLA TAMBRO – CHIEF PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER, CWSA)

BACKGROUND

The Community water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), initiated policy reforms in the Rural Water and Sanitation Sub-sector in 2017, with the aim of changing the management of water supply services from the existing Community Management to professionalized management model. The change in policy was triggered by recommendations gathered from various Stakeholders engagements and available research findings in the sector which pointed to the fact that the Community Management Model has not been efficient enough to ensure sustainable management of water supply infrastructure which government and its development partners have committed huge investments into providing. The initial engagements based on a concept paper led to the development of a Framework for the Reform which was also presented to sector stakeholders for validation at the national and regional levels.

CWSA KICK STARTS REGIONAL ENGAGEMENTS ON NEW COMMUNITY WATER SERVICES POLICY

(BY MRS. PAULINE ESTELLA PEBLA TAMBRO – CHIEF PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER, CWSA)

The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has launched a series of programmes to educate stakeholders and the general public on the new Community Water Services Policy (CWSP) which has been developed as part of the Agency’s reform process.

To ensure adequate understanding of the new policy and this stage of the reform process by the staff of the Agency and sector stakeholders, the Chief Executive of the CWSA, Ing. Worlanyo K. Siabi, together with a team from the Head Office organized the maiden regional engagements with the CWSA Regional and Water Systems Management Staff in the Volta, Eastern and Central regions from the 22nd to the 26th of February, 2021. The team made presentations on the new CWSP, status, achievements and challenges of the Reform so far and two APPs internally developed by the Agency’s IT Team on Human Resource Management and Billing.

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃

The Community water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), initiated policy reforms in the Rural Water and Sanitation Sub-sector in 2017, with the aim of changing the management of water supply services from the existing Community Management to professionalized management model. The change in policy was triggered by recommendations gathered from various Stakeholders engagements and available research findings in the sector which pointed to the fact that the Community Management Model has not been efficient enough to ensure sustainable management of water supply infrastructure which government and its development partners have committed huge investments into providing. The initial engagements based on a concept paper led to the development of a Framework for the Reform which was also presented to sector stakeholders for validation at the national and regional levels.

As part of the process, a cabinet memo was subsequently submitted to Cabinet by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) for consideration for approval towards the amendment of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency Act, 1998 (Act 564) to transform the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) into a utility service organization, with focus on application of innovation and professional skills in the management of water systems to achieve sustainability. In November 2019, Cabinet gave its approval for the CWSA policy reforms. This paved the way for the next stage of the reform process which was the development of the new Community Water Services Policy (CWSP) based on which the amendment of the Act 564 will be made to transform the CWSA from a facilitating Agency to a new utility organization called the Community Water Services Authority (CWSA).

The Community Water Services Policy has been aligned with Government’s vision for the Sub-Sector as enshrined in the Water Sector Strategic Development Plan (WSSDP), expressed as ‘all people living in Ghana have access to adequate, safe, affordable, reliable and sustainable water services, and practice safe sanitation and hygiene’.The formulation of the CWSP is based on discussions held in multi-level workshops, and extensive consultations with key stakeholders at national, regional, district, sub-district and community levels in the Community Water Services Sub-sector.

The purpose of the CWSP is to provide policy measures and define the implementation arrangements required to support the achievement of the government’s vision for the sector as stated above. The policy also provides direction and guidance for water services provision and supports decision-makers and stakeholders in determining “how things are done” and “who does what”. Most importantly, the amendment of the current CWSA Act, Act 564, will be based on the CWSP.

Nine focal areas and strategic actions have been identified under the CWSP. These include; Access to Potable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Finance, Public Private Partnership (PPP), Knowledge Management, Research and Innovation, Pro-poor Support, Climate Variability and Change, Sustainability of Water Services and Water Safety.

The new Community Water Services Authority (CWSA) when established, will be the lead Rural Water and Sanitation Sub-Sector Organisation. It will provide and manage safe water supply and related sanitation services to rural communities and small towns and will coordinate all actors and interventions in the sub-sector including NGOs and Private Sector water services providers.

𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝗪 𝐂𝗪𝐒𝐀 𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝗪𝐒𝐏

When established, the functions of the new CWSA will include the following:

Be the asset holder and manage all community water systems provided with public funds
Set standards and guidelines for the delivery of water supply in rural communities and small towns.
License private sector entities for commercial community water supply.
Mobilise funding from public and private sources for community water services delivery and related sanitation programmes in rural communities and small towns.
Encourage private sector participation in the provision of safe water supply and related sanitation.
Promote PPP arrangements for the funding, construction and management of water systems.
Coordinate data collection efforts and dissemination for planning and policy decisions.
Create enabling environment for knowledge management and learning in the sub-sector.
Provide support, in collaboration with MMDAs and NGOs to local private entities such as Area Mechanics, in handpump management and related sanitation services.
Stock and distribute handpumps spare parts for point water systems

Attendance to the engagement was very encouraging and participants showed a lot of enthusiasm in the presentations as they sat through and listened keenly in all sessions. At the end of the engagements, the objective of ensuring adequate understanding of the new policy was achieved as participants asked very engaging questions and made concrete contributions towards improving the content of CWSP and the two APPs.

𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒

The following is a pictorial presentation on the maiden regional engagements in the Volta, Eastern and Central regions.

On Wednesday, November 25, 2020, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) signed a historic Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with Grundfos Pumps, the world’s largest manufacturer of pumps and with 75 years in the industry.

Click there to read rore: (Wash Times)

Source: Mrs. Pauline Estella Pebla Tambro – Chief Pr Manager, CWSA

DON’T LOSE YOUR GUARD – KEEP YOUR KEY PROTECTOR, HANDWASHING WITH SOAP

MESSAGE BY MRS. THEODORA ADOMAKO-ADJEI, HEAD OF EXTENSION SERVICES, COMMUNITY WATER AND SANITATION AGENCY

This year’s Global Handwashing Day (GHD) is indeed a special one because the awareness about the importance of hand hygiene has been increased since the outbreak of the COVID -19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, hand washing facilities in public places had not been a priority for governments and the private sector. The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked the interest of government, private sector, Media, Civil Society Organisations and individuals to mobilise resources towards handwashing with soap promotion. In addition, the government has given directives stipulating that handwashing facilities should be placed at the entrance to all public and private commercial spaces such as schools, shopping malls, markets, lorry parks or stations, airports, shops, places of worship, health care facilities, workplaces among others.

It is important to note that handwashing with soap is not a creation of COVID -19 pandemic. I will like to emphasize once again that there has been a lot of innovations in the wake of COVID -19 pandemic but the practice of handwashing with soap is not one of the innovative ideas discovered because of the outbreak of the COVID-19. Handwashing with soap is simply a part of our lives, a key hygiene practice that keeps the hands clean from contamination and prevent transmission of diseases.

Yes, adoption of hand hygiene behaviour has proved useful in containing previous outbreaks of infectious diseases, but the critical question now is Are we going to stop washing our hands beyond the pandemic and wait for another outbreak of infectious disease before we start paying attention to handwashing with soap? The answer should be a Big No. I have made disturbing observations- media campaign and awareness on handwashing with soap is dwindling, some people have stopped washing their hands, some handwashing facilities in public spaces have been removed or are not functioning (no water or soap), the last but not least is that mandatory handwashing with soap is gradually being replaced with mandatory wearing of nose mask – NO MASK NO ENTRY. I am not against wearing of nose mask but it should be done together with handwashing with soap promotion. After all we need clean hands to put on the nose mask. What about ‘NO HAND WASHING AND NOSE MASK NO ENTRY’

This year’s theme for GHD , ‘Hand Hygiene for All’, could not have been more appropriate. The theme is a call to action to make hand hygiene a reality for all at all times. If even most people wash their hands with soap, we are all at risk because of the few who would not practice handwashing with soap. To protect our lives now and be better prepared for any future outbreak there should be a universal hand hygiene. A culture of hygiene will not happen overnight. Making hand hygiene available and accessible for all requires a multi-faceted, all-inclusive approach. A conscious effort is required through leadership and commitment at all levels – individual, household, community, district, regional and national. In addition, policy, coordination, regulation and financing which reinforce hand hygiene services and behavior change need to be strengthened.

There should be a fundamental shift in attitudes and behaviours towards handwashing with soap. Handwashing with soap must become normalized and habitual. What we need is collective action. We shall succeed only when Hand hygiene becomes everybody’s business and embedded in our everyday lives. I will entreat everyone not to relent on their endeavors towards promotion of handwashing with soap to build on the current momentum and make hand hygiene a mainstay in public health interventions beyond the pandemic.

It is now time for all Ghanaians to put hand hygiene in its proper perspective. Let us maintain the hand hygiene practice or behaviour and make handwashing facilities available and accessible in homes, communities, schools, workplaces, health facilities and all public spaces.

A healthy nation is a wealthy nation. The power to save lives is in your hands.