No.1 Akura, a small community with about 100 residents in Asutifi North District has had a single borehole as their source of safe and convenient water for many years now.
Over the years, the community has had to fall on the District Assembly to maintain the borehole whenever it breaks down. This had become a financial burden onto the Assembly whilst the long bureaucracy before the faults are fixed leaves the people to fall on water from a stream that is about a mile away.
World Vision under the ANAM Initiative has renovated the borehole. But to ensure the community can maintain it whenever it breaks down, the residents with assistance from the WASH Desk have been practicing the Pay as you fetch model.
This model ensures that little amounts of money are collected for every water fetched from the borehole. The water vendor in turn accounts for a Water and Sanitation Management Team (WSMT) comprised of community members. The money is then deposited in a bank account. This is to ensure that Funds are always available to maintain the borehole.
“At this point, there is no way this borehole will break down and we won’t be able to fix it. We have the money. I believe the Assembly now can focus its finances on other important matters”, Peter Amankonah, a resident of No. 1 Akura.