The Minister for Water Resources Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda has stated that ‘There is the need for water sector agencies to take their Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) activities seriously to help minimize the rate of non-functionality in the sector.’
Published on: 04/12/2013
Alhaji Collins Dauda made the remarks at the opening of the 2013 Ghana Water Forum in Accra. He said “the Government of Ghana is committed to providing water services to un-served areas by building new facilities. To this end, the Government of Ghana has initiated a process to drill 20,000 boreholes throughout the country in the next five years to increase rural water coverage from the current 64% to 76% percent”. He however said, if the boreholes are constructed but there is no proper M&E system in place to monitor the facilities, service delivery cannot be sustained.
The need for and effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation system in the WASH sector engaged the attention of sector stakeholders at the just ended fourth edition of the Ghana Water Forum held in Accra from 5-7 November 2013.
The forum was under the theme:“Monitoring and Evaluation: Key to sustaining and up-scaling water, sanitation and hygiene services".The forum is organized by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH) in partnership with sector stakeholders. It seeks to offer government and its WASH sector partners the opportunity to review the performance of sector agencies, provide a learning and sharing platform to take stock of sector achievements against national targets and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The forum also serves to identify challenges and build consensus on strategies and actions for accelerating achievement of the water and sanitation targets.
What is M&E?
According to Wikipedia, the online dictionary, M&E is the process by which data are collected and analyzed in order to provide information to policy makers and others for use in programme planning and project management.
Evaluation should happen at key milestones during a programme’s life-cycle to measure the success of the project relative to its stated objectives (e.g. relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact). This is what makes M& E imperative in the activities of WASH service providers as it provides information to provide and implement projects to ensure those projects are sustainable.
Alhaji Collins Dauda, therefore charged respective ministries, departments and agencies “to take stock of all non-functioning and decommissioned water facilities in the country and make efforts to rehabilitate them to restore service delivery whilst new ones are being constructed.
He bemoaned the wastage and duplication of efforts in the sector and called for better coordination and harmonization of interventions and activities to avoid wastage. Alhaji Dauda therefore called for a M&E framework which will serve as a common reference point for projects initiated in the sector. Alhaji Dauda also stated that as part of measures to restructure the sector to ensure efficient delivery of services, there is the need to mainstream the Water Directorate into the MWRWH to help provide effective leadership within the sector.
Alhaji Collins Dauda emphasized that Monitoring and Evaluation is a necessary tool for sustaining and up-scaling service delivery in the WASH sector. He said technological advancement has brought with it various methods of monitoring and evaluating systems in the sector. These, he urged sector players, to adopt and utilize to help improve service delivery.
Mrs. Cecilia Johnson, Chairman of the Council of State, and chairman for the opening ceremony also associated with the theme for the forum. According to Mrs. Johnson, the theme was very appropriate and timely because it reflects a commitment and recognition of the importance of focusing on the performance of sector agencies, and also on the facilities that are provided. She said “this is important because after all is said and the bottom line is about the quality of service delivery which is constantly being echoed by the citizenry”.
Mrs. Johnson said issues such as the rate of nearly 50 percent unaccountable water in Ghana due to inefficiencies, pollution of water bodies which serve as source points, obsolete machinery and weak system of distribution network, all underscore the enormity and multi-dimensional nature of the challenges affecting sector. She called for a holistic approach in solving these issues to help improve and sustain service delivery.
Mrs. Johnson commended the sector ministry and its partners for organizing the forum which seeks to share information and ideas on how to address challenges and improve general service delivery in the water and related sectors. She hoped that the decisions and communique that will come out of the forum will contribute to influence policy and practice in the sector.
Messages from sector partners throughout the forum, including the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Coalition of NGO’s in Water and Sanitation
(CONIWAS) and the sector Development Partners (DPs), echoed the need for M&E to help improve sector service delivery. Sector partners urged the use of technology to improve M&E activities. Institutions and organisations which contributed to the organisation of the forum were presented with certificates of recognision. IRC Ghana was also presented a certificate. It was received by IRC Ghana Country Director, Mrs. Vida Duti.
As a precursor to this year’s event, there was a Children and Youth Forum (GYCF) organised by the ministry in conjunction with UNICEF. It was under the theme: “The Role of Children and Youth in Sustaining Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Services".The main purpose of the GYCF is to create awareness of future leaders of the nation with respect to the importance of water and sanitation for the overall socio-economic development of Ghana. The children’s forum came up with a communique which was presented to the sector minister at the opening of the main event.
Compiled by Victor Narteh Otum, DCO-IRC Ghana - December 4, 2013.
