Participants at the Mole Conference XXIII have called for the establishment of a national water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) fund to finance capital maintenance of facilities to ensure sustainability. This is because communities are not able to finance capital maintenance activities on their own leading to non-functionality of facilities.
Published on: 03/09/2012
The call was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 23rd edition of the Mole Conference held in Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana. Decision point three of the communiqué read: “3. The Conference participants noted the challenges communities are facing in financing capital maintenance of WASH facilities and call for the establishment of a national WASH fund that will pool resources from the replacement accounts of Small Town Water and Sanitation Management Teams and other sources”.
The WASH fund is expected to pool resources from the replacement accounts of Small Town Water and Sanitation Management Teams and other sources together to be used to repair and rehabilitate systems/facilities when they breakdown. It will primarily support post construction activities to ensure sustainability of service delivery.
Government, through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning have also been urged to ensure the timely release of budget allocation to the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector Ministries. Funds should also be released timely to other sector allied agencies to enable them to implement planned WASH activities to help meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), especially on sanitation.
The Conference also called for the establishment of an inter-ministerial committee on water and sanitation comprising the Ministries of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Local Government and Rural Development and Finance and Economic Planning to facilitate transparent and coordinated resource allocation to ensure effective utilisation of resources allocated to the sector.
This 23rd edition of the Mole Conference took place in Tamale, Ghana in the Northern Region under the theme: ''Financing the WASH Sector: Past, Current Trends and Vision for the Future”. The Mole Conference is organised by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) in partnership with its sector players to influence policies, remove barriers and promote access to sustainable water, sanitation and improved hygiene for all, especially the poor and vulnerable.
