Tamale,Three assemblies in the North East and Upper East Regions have each received a Mobile Sanitation Sales Van (MSV) to support the drive for improved sanitation and hygiene practices within their jurisdiction.
They included the West Mamprusi Municipality and Mamprugu-Moaduri District in the North East Region and the Talensi District in the Upper East Region.
The MSV is a motorised tricycle that has been customised with fabricated compartments, shelves and public address systems to broadcast information on availability and sale of improved sanitation (including hygiene) products and services.
The Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an international non-governmental organisation, presented the MSV to the three assemblies as part of its Integrated Community Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement (ICOWASH) project, which is funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
The ICOWASH project seeks to further scale up market-based sanitation interventions and accelerate the uptake of improved sanitation through direct consumer contact using entertainment-education tools like the MSV.
Madam Candace Osun Sade, Executive Vice President of CRS, who handed over the MSV to the representatives of the three assemblies in Tamale, encouraged the district partners to establish effective management structures that would ensure proper operations, maintenance and sustainability of the MSV.
In view of the low sanitation coverage in the country, the government and its development partners have been implementing the Rural Sanitation Model and Strategy (RSMS) to improve the situation in rural and peri-urban communities and to stop open defecation.
CRS through the ICOWASH has been implementing the RSMS by creating demand using the Community-Led Total Sanitation approach and facilitating supply through market-based sanitation.
Within the past four years, over 3,000 improved household latrines have been constructed in three districts
Despite the success so far, there remains a wide gap in access to improved sanitation products and service hence the MSV to market improved latrine products/inputs/spare parts for latrine artisans and entrepreneurs (slabs, pipes, squat pans amongst others).
The MSV will also be used for community-level dissemination of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) behaviour change messages and information, as well as crowd mobilization for marketing of WASH products and services on market days in large communities.
Madam Sade assured that CRS was always committed to “catalyse transformational change at scale for the world’s most vulnerable”, hence “We continuously bring innovative and affordable solutions that drive impact and positive change.”
Mr Daniel Mumuni, Country Representative of CRS assured that the CRS would continue to work with the districts to identify their challenges and work together towards addressing them.
Mr Arimeyaw Somo Lucky Basintale, Municipal Chief Executive for West Mamprusi, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiary assemblies, said the assemblies had pledged to make their areas total-sanitised adding the MSV had come at the right time to help in that regard.
He expressed gratitude to CRS for the gesture commending it for the numerous investments it was making to ensure improved sanitation and hygiene practices in the districts.
Source: Ghana News Agency