The foundation is helping fund the construction of
some bore holes, drainage systems and latrines in the Central Region of Ghana.
At present we have two detailed costings, one for a drainage system and another
for some latrines. These interventions are rated highly on our cost effective
interventions list under sanitation. At current we are looking to
construct;
-
Drainage Systems for Budukwaa community
-
Latrines for Budukwaa Community
You can read about other
items considered in the interventions section.
The total funds required are estimated at around £10,000 for the
construction of the items listed below. The costed plans
are broken down below. The other items are listed in the
interventions
section;
-
Drainage Systems £5,000 for Budukwaa Community
-
Latrines £5,000 for Budukwaa Community
Total: £10,000
For a village of 100 people, and for a system lasting 10
years this amounts to a cost of around 2 pence per
person per day.
If you would like to donate to this project, please follow
the link below.
Thank you for your donations.
Donate
The interventions considered in the interventions section have the
following benefits;
-
Empower women by for example stopping them having to spend a lot of time
collecting water.
-
Improves nutrition considerably by stopping parasites and common infectious
diseases which compete for food. The effect of improved nutrition is
measured to have a significant effect on reducing illness in general,
including the effect of Malaria and HIV.
-
Reduced mortality rates. Water related diseases are the most common cause of
illness and death among the poor of developing countries. 1.6 million deaths
a year can be attributed to poor water, sanitation and hygiene.
-
Economically, health related costs avoided through prevention of common
diseases prevented by water and sanitation would amount to $7.3
billion/year. The annual value of time savings of the sort where women spend
time fetching water could amount to $64 billion.
-
Water and sanitation are classified by the foundation as the top two most
effective interventions. Costing around £10 per person per year
compared to £100 for some of the more expensive interventions, and having
the largest effect on general health puts these at number one and two on our
priority list.
-
Improve many peoples lives. By
helping to fund the interventions described
below, you will be helping improve the lives of many people in the villages
of those communities! Imagine how much you value your clean water over dirty
water, well that may be a good indication of how much it means to the people
in the communities you are helping!
-
Reduce illness and provide economic
gains. You will help to provide the benefits described in the
benefits section above which include
reducing illness considerably and also providing economic gains.
-
Cost Effective and Sustainable. In
our evaluation of finding the most cost effective interventions, topping the
list are water and sanitation, which because of their large effects in
combating illness, and their relative inexpensiveness come out to be most
cost effective. The investments also usually are fixed, non perishable goods
which can last for around 10 years. 10 years is enough to keep the costs of
depreciation low.
-
Community focus. Because we are
helping communities directly on relatively small projects, you can see where
your money goes precisely. You can also see that the communities are
directly involved in the process of development which means that they are
likely to keep a stronger, longer term interest.
The communities in the Central
Region are of low, levels of development, and depend on the agricultural
industry for the little they have. All of the villages lack some of
the basic amenities we have here in the UK. Some have
and some don’t have for example have bore wells, though they all have some road
access, though the roads are very rudimentary and full of potholes. There are
some schools. Access to medical facilities is poor. The locals live largely in self
constructed, mud huts, without improved cooking facilities, using biomass.
The communities are farming based,
with the locals working on plantations such as pineapple and mango plantations.
They supply Blue Skies food processors who process, package and export the food to Europe.
Community Pictures
|
Figure
1- a bore hole in the Techiman Community
|
Figure
2 – A typical community village
|
|
Figure 3 – A papaya
plantation
|
Figure 4 – A
Pineapple plantation in the Techiman Community
|
The foundation visited the central
region villages in February 2007 having established a thorough contact in the
community through Blue Skies, a British owned food
processing company. This visit gave the team an introduction to
Ghana, and the
regions and to see and hear first hand the situation. The locals expressed a
desire for improved facilities, such as those you might expect, including
improved water and sanitation facilities. They also highlighted a desire for
jobs. Later in the year the foundation asked the communities to furnish a
list of requests detailing items which they would prefer to us to help fund.
From this list we decided to focus on the water and sanitation requests which
from our research we estimated to be most cost effective. We are currently
awaiting detailed costing and implementation planning for the
interventions
listed below which we aim to supply.
Interventions
Below is a shortlist of community requests which we have considered for funding.
Techiman Community
1.
Construction of drainage systems in the comm.
Nanabin Community
1. 12-Seater
Public place of convenience (toilets/latrines).
2. Bore hole
Abor Community
4.
Construction of drainage systems in the comm.
Budukwaa Community
3. Drainage
system in the community.
4. KVIP Latrines
Ghana
Ghana is located on the South Coast of Western
Africa, surrounded by
Togo
to the East,
Burkina Faso to the North and
Ivory Coast
to the West. The UN Cartographic Section supplies a
map of
Ghana which is located
here.
It has a population of around 22 million growing at around 2% a year. Food cocoa
and timber processing lead
Ghana’s industry.
Ghana’s GDP per person is
around £200.
Ghana
is especially challenged by the prevalence of malnutrition, which was 22% of
children under 5 in 2003. It suffers also from a wide range of typical poverty
related problems, including Malaria and AIDS. The proportion of people in rural
areas using improved sanitation such as latrines is 11%. Those using improved
drinking water such as that from bore holes are around 64% rurally.
Data for the Millennium Development Goals in
Ghana can be found at the
Millennium Development Goals
Indicators website.
Blue Skies
Blue Skies is a food processor located in
Ghana
who process and package foods to be shipped to the
Europe. They create exotic food packages, with
foods like pineapple, mango and papaya sourced from local farmers in
Ghana,
Egypt,
South Africa and
Brazil. They account for 1% of
Ghana’s total exports.
Their presence affects thousands of rural villagers largely in the
Ashanti and Central
regions. They have committed to helping local communities and providing top
working conditions for employees, with their plant near Nsawam in
Ghana
including a broadband internet café, library, cafeteria and health facilities.
Community Requests
These requests were proposed by the Central Region communities after the
visit in February 2007.
Techiman Community
(this is
where we visited the borehole)
Pop: 700
1. Six-Room
teachers’ quarters with kitchen and toilets.
2. Community
Library
3. 3 Classroom
Block
4.
Construction of drainage systems in the comm.
Nanabin Community
Pop:4000
1. Bore hole
2. Community
Library
3. Community
Centre
4. 12-Seater
Public place of convenience (toilets/latrines).
Abor Community
Pop: 2000
1. Community
Library
2. Six-Room
teachers’ quarters with kitchen and toilets.
3. Community
Centre
4.
Construction of drainage systems in the comm.
Budukwaa Community
Pop: 300
1. Community
Centre
2. School for
Infants ( 2 - 6 years). Two (2) rooms with an office and store.
3. Drainage
system in the community.
4. KVIP
Latrines
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The Ghana Charity Central Region Project
