Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene September - October 2016 Vol. 11 No.4 | Page 33

Sanitation

school because she does not have
a bathroom in her home. “I have
trained myself not to go when I am
in school, but since this came, I feel
so happy and excited”, she says.
Although she is still waiting for
her system to adjust to using the
toilets at school, she has used the
girls’ changing room. “I felt very
comfortable in the room all by
myself as I changed.”

© UNICEF Ghana/2016, One of two of the toilets in the Ho SDA school complex. The school
recently commissioned two new blocks of four-seater Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit (KVIP) toilet
facilities with disability-friendly space and a room for managing menstrual hygiene.

of the Volta region, but it still faces many obstacles to
providing universal access to sanitation.
Rapid urbanization, space constraints, insufficient
enforcement of laws and the absence of a national
sanitation strategy are some of the causes of the poor
sanitation situation in the Ho district. Several schools have
zero access to sanitation facilities or have facilities that do
not meet the Ghana Education Services
minimum standards.

By using schools as entry points,
the urban sanitation project is
harnessing the power children have
as agents of behaviour change
in their communities. Over time,
the students will share with their
families and neighbours all of the
knowledge they have gained on
sanitation and proper use of the
facilities.

As Ho begins to enjoy the benefits of a clean community,
Happy, Abraham and all the children at the Ho SDA
School have the opportunity to make a permanent impact
on the future of their town. In fact, Abraham has already
noticed a difference: “Since the toilets were opened, our
campus is cleaner and more hygienic.”

However, thanks to support from
UNICEF and the Government of
the Netherlands, the Ho SDA School
Complex recently commissioned two
new blocks of four-seater Kumasi
Ventilated Improved Pit (KVIP) toilet
facilities with disability-friendly space
and a room for managing menstrual
hygiene.
The toilets are one of several holistic
targeted interventions to improve
sanitation in Ho, with a view to develop
a national urban sanitation strategy.
Children as agents of change
Seventeen year old Happy Gomado is
particularly grateful for the toilets at

© UNICEF Ghana/2016, Happy Gomado, 17, stands in front of the female toilet block. She is
particularly grateful for the toilets at school because she does not have a bathroom in her home.
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • September - October 2016

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