Cecilia Abena Dapaa speaking at the event
THE MINISTER of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has commissioned an improved Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project at the Ohwimase Basic School in the Kwadaso Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
Also installed were automated Water Vending Machines (WVM) at the Apatrapa Healthcare Centre and Agric Nsima in the Kwadaso Municipality.
The provision of these Water ATMs, Cecilia Abena Dapaa disclosed, was in line with the government’s digitization agenda led by Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, to increase service accessibility and, where possible, create smart jobs while reducing service inefficiencies that may arise due to the human interface.
According to her, the initiative was launched by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources in February 2021 under the GoG-UNICEF WASH programme and with support from the government of Denmark.
It was aimed at extending WASH Â services to selected low – income communities, healthcare facilities and schools in some municipalities in the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Areas within the context of COVID-19 pandemic.
Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Tom Norring, said the WASH project has contributed to promoting existing innovative models such as the automatic water vending stations.
He commended the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for assembling a local device to support the project.
On her part, UNICEF country representative, Anne- Claire Dufay, thanked the Danish government for supporting an integrated response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana with $5.6 million.
The chief of Agric Nsima, Nana Nkansah Boadu Ayeboafo, commended Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Danish Ambassador and the UNICEF representative for bringing one of the projects to his community.
From David Afum & Stella Botwe