MOLE 25

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Julius Debrah  has challenge stakeholders in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, to use the conference to formulate  concrete  implementable  strategies to address the gap between water and sanitation target in the MDG by 2015. According to him the conference will be an indicator to assess the success of the sector. Mr. Debrah said this at the 25th Mole Conference of the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation in Accra. Under the theme: mole conference series at 25: reflection to define the future. The conference attracted stakeholders in the WASH sector to come together to deliberate on strategic plan and implementation that will help improve the Water Sanitation and Hygiene  in the country. The conference also create a platform to discuss  challenges confronting the sector since mole one. 25 years of the establishment of mole in Ghana, the WASH sector have seen a tremendously growth in the country, which according to the joint monitoring fund report, Ghana has achieved it water target in the MDGs. Mr. Debrah noted that Ghana cannot achieve its target in the Millennium Development Goals in sanitation by 2015, adding that the currently, Ghana  has achieved 13 percent out of the 54 percent in sanitation. He said with the issue of water, Ghana has already achieved it target in the Millennium Development Goals  even though there are some erratic nature of services in the water delivery. Touching on the current cholera case Mr. Debrah said at as January 1st up to date the country has recorded over 16 thousand cases with a cases fatality rate of zero point eight percent. He attributed these to lack of proper hygiene. He pledge government support to provide the needed resource to personnel to enable them fright the disease. The Team Leader for the Innovation Service Limited, Stanley Walters Attafi has called for the assessment of Civil Society Organizations and the private sector to serve as database for the sector information for monitoring, evaluation and also provide input into the preparation of the Sanitation Water for All , SWA for the SSDP. According to him will help monitor progress in the Civil Society Organizations. He stressed on the need for comprehensive assessment to fully understand the positions these actors that is the big or small to have equal space to participate in all sector programs.  Touching on the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project, SRWSP, he said a sub-component of the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project will help support the establishment of a robust Sector Information System, SIS to facilitate information sharing, coordination, and to enhance Monitoring and Evaluation roles among WASH actors. A Consultant also a former director of water at the Ministry of Water Resource Works and Housing, Minta Aboagye said a new development Goals and Targets are being formulated for the WASH sector by the UN-Water and its collaborating agencies to replace the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs to Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs for the next 15 years beginning 2016 to 2030. The new development goals will target hundred percent in the WASH sector. He said for the new development agenda emphasizes on Sustainability, in service delivery, adding that Water will have its own target but will not be decoupled from the broad goal for the environment.  He said critical examination of progress at its annual Conferences, raising the necessary flags to alert government should there be slippages on the way, and to provide workable suggestions towards achieving the targets. He said the United Nationals noted serious limitations in the formulation of the MDG target for water and sanitation, which is: “halving the population without access to potable water and sanitation facilities by 2015.  The conference was organized by CONIWAS and Sponsored by Water Aid Ghana.