Ghana: inadequate water hampers school feeding programme

Updated - Monday 19 October 2009

Recent research [1] conducted by SEND-Ghana shows that 45% of schools in sample districts under the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) do not have access to water. The Chairperson of the working group of Civil Society Platform on Ghana and Education Advisor for SNV, Ms Adama Jehanfo stated that although 85% of schools had been supplied with water by the programme, 87% of the water systems were not working. “The report reveals that 26% of the schools have no access to toilet facilities, while almost 87% of the schools lack hand washing facilities”.

An audit commissioned by the Dutch government and undertaken in 2008 by the international accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, found that after two years of implementation of the GSFP there was “widespread corruption” at the programme secretariat [2]. As a result, the Dutch government temporarily suspended funding to the programme. The National Coordinator of the GSFP, Mr Michael Nsowah, has since been dismissed as the head of the programme, according to a recent report on Joy FM radio [3].

Ms Jehanfo was speaking at Water and Sanitation workshop under the theme, “Chattering the Way Forward in Addressing the Water and Sanitation Issues Affecting the GSFP” in Tamale. It was organised by SEND-Ghana and sponsored by SNV, ActionAid Ghana, PLAN Ghana, IBIS, TRIAS, CRS, FONG, UWRAP, SMA, NNED, New Energy , IFAD and ACDEP.

[1] Challenges of Institutional Collaboration quoted in: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, GhanaDot.com, 05 May 2009

[2] IRIN, 12 Jun 2008

[3] myjoyonline.com / ModernGhana.com, 22 Sep 2009

Related news: Ghana: stop violence against girls – build school toilets, Source Weekly, 21 Sep 2009

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