A Child Sanitation Diplomat from the Accra College of Education Demonstration School, Artaldus Sung Kuuntanaa, has called on children to become ambassadors for sanitation and hygiene.  

His appeal came at the close-out of Plan International Ghana’s I-PADEV Project at Monarch Hotel, East Legon, Accra. 

The three-year project, which ended in December 2025, reached 20 communities in the West Mamprusi and Jasikan municipalities, and Artaldus urged collective action to ensure all schools have safe toilets and communities live in dignity.

“As children, our voices are powerful. We can keep our surroundings clean, practice good hygiene, and inspire others,” he said, stressing that poor sanitation steals classroom time, confidence, and sometimes lives.

Country Director of Plan International Ghana, Mr Constant Tchona, stated that access to improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is fundamental to the empowerment of girls and women.

He added that such access promotes personal dignity while also strengthening the role and influence of women and girls within their communities.

“As we all know, it is often girls and women who bear the heaviest burden when WASH facilities are inadequate or inaccessible.

He noted that available data show that only 25 per cent of Ghanaians have access to basic sanitation, while approximately 56 per cent rely on shared latrines, 1 per cent use unimproved facilities, and 18 per cent practice open defecation.

As a result, three out of every four households are at risk of consuming water contaminated with traces of faecal matter, primarily due to inadequate sanitation and hygiene practices (MSWR, March 2023).

Mr Constant Tchona also noted that further evidence showed that nearly 90 per cent of those practising open defecation belonged to the poorest households.

He said the project provided access to improved household sanitation, safe drinking water facilities for communities, latrines in schools within 20 communities with changing areas for girls, hand washing facilities, reusable sanitary pads, the establishment of local spare-part supply systems to repair broken handpumps and the establishment of the real fathers’ club to encourage men to take more active and supportive roles in domestic life.

Togbui Azameti II, of Ketsi Nkwanta-Nsui-Buem, Oti Region, commended Plan International Ghana for moving a significant number of communities in the region from fetching water from streams and rivers to mechanised boreholes.

“The water is helping, so we hope that cholera and diarrhoea will not be a problem to us anymore,” he added.

He said for open defecation, it had stopped, due to the construction of latrines from the project, adding: “So now, as you are coming to the community, you will not have an eyesore. You will have a living breath.”

Togbui Azameti II affirmed that the traditional authorities in the beneficiary communities would ensure the protection and proper maintenance of the facilities entrusted to them.

“We also promise Plan that these things won’t be white elephants in the communities. We will make sure they are maintained,” he said.