What?

Ghana has experienced a substantial increase in the level of urbanization since the eighties. The national coverage for improved sanitation has not increased at the same pace. Only 13% of the Ghanaian population has access to improved sanitation. With this coverage Ghana is one of the lowest in Sub-Sahara Africa. Although the proportion of the Ghanaian population that uses improved drinking water has increased significantly, there is still a considerable part of urban and rural dwellers that don’t have (easy) access to good quality water. A large percentage of the urban population is not connected to a piped network, leading to poor hygiene standards, especially in urban areas. The sanitation coverage is even lower: the access to sewer systems is almost negligible. Liquid waste (human excreta) is collected from septic tanks or cess-pits and disposed untreated at non-engineered landfills or at illegal dump sites. Door-to-door collection of solid waste has increased substantially in the past years. However, illegal dumping is still common practice and the landfills that are there cannot meet the current or future demand. As Ghana consolidates its middle-income status, a wealthier population will tend to generate more of all types of waste. GNWP aims to address these challenges in relation to water, sanitation and hygiene.