IRC SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM VISIT ASUTIFI AND MEET WITH ANDA.
A Senior Management delegation from IRC embarkedon a field visit to the Asutifi North District from July 4-6 2021. The objective of the visit wasto discuss current implementation status of the ANAM Initiative; and how local governmentand partners are fulfilling their roles and responsibilities - with a mix of community visits and interactions with local CSOs. The seven-member IRC delegation was led by the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Patrick Moriarty. Other members of thedelegation included:
- Ingeborg Krukkert (Lead New Initiatives & SeniorSanitation and Hygiene Specialist)
- John Butterworth (Director of Global Hub)
- Boukari Ousmane (Lead Technical Assistance, IRC Niger)
- Fabrizio by Georgio Ferrari Trecate (Regional Advisor WestAfrica)
- Afou Bengaly (Country Coordinator, Mali)
- Vida Duti (Country Director, Ghana)
The delegation held a meeting with the management of the Asutifi North District Assembly and had in attendance Hon. Anthony Mensah (District Chief Executive), and Mr. Samuel Badu-Baiden (District Coordinating Director). Other district assembly officials present at themeeting included:
- District Planning Officer
- District Environmental Health and Sanitation Officer
- District Finance Officer
- District Works Engineer
The meeting with the District Assembly offered the delegation the opportunity to explore and understand what the ANAM partnership had achieved so far, the challenges and ongoing efforts to achieve set targets of the WSH masterplan. This learning was intended to feed into the delegation’s subsequent meeting in Accra on the 7th to 9th ofJuly,2021.
SOD CUTTING CEREMONY FOR LATTER-DAY SAINTS CHARITIES PROJECT.
On July 06, 2021, in Bronyakrom, IRC in collaboration with the AsutifiNorth District Assembly and partners hosted the official sod-cutting ceremonyfor the WASH services to hard-to-reach communities project to mark the start ofthe initiative in the district.
Following the initial project activities including the selection of the hard-to-reach communities, work had started and the Bronyakrom royal event was to formally announce the initiative and showcase the construction of a new borehole facility to provide the community with access to water services.
Bronyakrom is a farming community with an estimated population of over 150 and is located about 8km away from Kenyasi, the district capital of theAsutifi North District. The community has no access to water services. For thisreason, community members had to make about 1-hour round trip includingqueueing to access water in the next community.
With funding from the LDSC through IRC, World Vision International, animplementing partner of the project, drilled a productive well with a depth of36 meters and a yield of 25 liters per minute. The tested water passed all thephysicochemical and bacteriological parameters per WHO and Ghana StandardAuthority guidelines.
The LDSC project aims to increaseaccess to clean water, and sanitation in five rural communities, five schools,and sixty households and build the capacity of thirty district officials and 75service providers and stakeholders in Asutifi North district, Ghana benefiting 2,929people
ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS OF SMALL GRANTOPPORTUNITY FOR CSO'S
In April 2021, the Asutifi North DistrictAssembly in partnership with IRC Ghana launched the ANAM Small Grant Opportunity for CSOs in the district to embark on advocacy on equity andinclusion in WASH. In response to the call, 12 proposals were received on May15, 2021. The proposals were duly screened and assessed by an independent jury.
On Monday, July 5 in Kenyasi, five localcivil society organisations (CSOs) were announced as winners of the Asutifi North Ahonedie Mpuntuo (ANAM) small grant call for CSOs in Asutifi North District. The five CSOs will receive a total grantvalue of fifty thousand Ghana cedis (50,000GHS) for excellence in the development of proposals to carry out public education and sensitization in thedistrict to complement efforts of ANAM partners in the target localities towards achieving universal coverage in the district. The winners of the competition were:
- Sustainable Development Focus Ghana (SUDEF GHANA),
- Global Alliance for Development Foundation (GADeF),
- Firm Foundation and Environment,
- Phanuel Global Health Foundation, and
- Universal Rehabilitation Centre.
OFFICIALS FROM ANDA PARTICIPATE IN ON-BOARDING CONSULTATION SESSION ON SYSTEMS TOOLS FOR ASSESSMENT AND RESPONSE (STAR)WORKSHOP
Selected officials from Asutifi North District Assembly participated in an online workshop titled “Getting to the Source: Systems Tools for Assessment and Response (STAR)”. The workshoporganized by Stanford University’s Program on Water, Health & Development(WHD) seeks to support small teams of local government participants to analyzeand develop strategies to resolve a problem that they currently face relating to sustainable water services.
On Wednesday, July 28, an initial online on-boarding consultation session with Stanford’s STAR instructors was held at the ANAM WASH HUB office. The purpose of theconsultation was to surface the situation that the team’s focus will be on forthe Workshop, ensuring that the team will engage with a problem that is timely,relevant, and meaningful.
Participants of the workshop were District Planning Officer, Head of Works Department, Head of Water Unit, Environmental HealthOfficer, SHEP Coordinator, Physical Education Coordinator, Health Promotion Officer, WASH Desk Officer and Assistant Planning Officer.
Participation in this online STAR Workshopis subsidized through the generous support of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s Safe Water Strategy and in partnership with IRC-WASH.