The Alliance for Wash Advocacy (A4WA) has called on the Government to speed up the processes regarding the promised WASH budgetary releases in order to improve the country’s sanitation and hygiene challenges.

The Alliance seeks to promote WASH access for all existing sector challenges through consensus and partnership building, advocacy and play an active role in WASH policy Agenda implementation.

Ms Nora Ollennu, Chief Executive Officer of Intervention Forum, said the Alliance had carried out a number of notable activities, aimed at drawing the attention of the government to critical sector issues at the national and sub-national levels.

She said in November 2017, the Alliance submitted a memo to the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, calling on Government to review and align existing sector policies; increase its 2018 WASH budgetary allocation; and intensify efforts towards ending open defecation.

‘’In May 2018, we met with the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources to call for further clarification on the breakdown of the improved WASH sector Budget; the source of the additional funding; and the modalities on how and when the additional fund would be disbursed,’’ she said.

The event was on theme ‘’Accelerating WASH budgetary release for improved sanitation now’’

Mr Attah Arhin, WASH Technical coordinator-World Vision, said the Alliance wanted Government, through the Ministries of Sanitation and Water Resources and Finance to update the public, especially the WASH sector actors on the total budget released for WASH this year.

He appealed to the Government to update the Alliance on the implementation status of the National Sanitation Campaign, which was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, including the ‘’one house one toilet’’ and the ‘’one district one dam’’ initiatives.

Mr Arhin commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the significant political commitments to WASH, particularly by creating the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.

The A4WA is a coalition of local and international non-governmental organisation and networks in Ghana’s WASH sector. It comprises sector players such as CONIWAS, World Vision International, Safe Water Network, WaterAid Ghana, People’s Dialogue, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), SNV Ghana, Plan International, Ghana and Intervention Forum among others.