Sustainable Rural Water Service Initiative launched in Ghana
Updated - Monday 17 May 2010
Accra, Ghana, Monday 17 May, 2010. Under the auspices of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency Ghana, the Netherlands based IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre today officially launched its Sustainable Service at Scale initiative at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra. Working with key stakeholders in the water sector, the five-year initiative will further support the Government of Ghana in improving sustainable rural water delivery.
Referred to informally as Triple-S, the five-year, multi-country initiative aims to improve rural water service delivery at scale through a combination of learning, advocacy and research programmes to facilitate a shift towards delivering services that are financially sustainable and adaptable over the long term. With hand pump non-functionality in some 21 Sub-Saharan African estimated at 36% [1], the initiative focuses on promoting an integrated, service delivery approach (SDA) towards sustainability in water service provision. ‘Secondary to air, water is the single most important element to our existence, so of course we welcome initiatives such as Triple-S that support the sector in delivering sustainable water services’ the Honourable Alban Bagbin, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing stated.
The initiative also plans within five years to ensure that those countries in which it is based, namely Uganda and Ghana, adopt a coordinated service delivery approach to financing, planning implementing and maintaining sustainable rural water supplies. As Clement Bugase, acting Chief Executive of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency comments, ‘If we can tackle the issue of sustainability, we can make faster progress.’
In order to realise this goal, the initiative will work on developing service delivery models for implementation at a district level. ‘The success of the Triple-S initiative lies in equipping stakeholders throughout the sector with the knowledge, tools and frameworks to move away from short-term, one-off water system construction projects’ states Triple-S Ghana’s Country Team Leader, Vida Affum Duti. ‘It is essential that we all have access to indefinite, sustainable rural water services and Triple-S will play a critical role in helping the sector to achieve this.’
Expansion of the initiative into other countries is anticipated with the aim of improving sustainable water services at scale for more than 2 million people around the globe.
About IRC
Since its foundation in 1968, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre has facilitated the sharing, promotion and use of knowledge so that governments, professionals and organisations can better support poor men, women and children in developing countries to obtain water and sanitation services they will use and maintain
For press-related enquiries, please contact Dick de Jong (jong@irc.nl) at IRC.
For further information on IRC and the Sustainable Service at Scale initiative ( Triple-S), please log on to:
[1] Rural Water Supply Network, 2007, Handpump data for selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
http://www.rwsn.ch/documentation/skatdocumentation.2009-03-09.7304634330
