The second High Level Meeting of the Sanitation and Water for All partnership was held in 2012 in Washington D.C. The Government of Ghana made several commitments at this meeting to improve access to water and sanitation, known as the Ghana Compact. Key commitments included spending $400 million annually from 2011-2015, improving access to sanitation for 10 million Ghanaians, and establishing accountability mechanisms like monitoring and evaluation.

1. Mole XXIII Conference
An Assessment of Sanitation and Water for All
Compact (SWA Compact)
“The Ghana Compact”
Ben Arthur,
CONIWAS

2. The Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) Framework
• Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) is a partnership bringing together governments, donors,
civil society and multilateral organizations at both global and national levels.
• It aims to ensure all people have access to basic sanitation and safe drinking water, with a
specific focus on those countries most off-track in achieving this.
To achieve this SWA calls for:
Increased political prioritisation
Strong national planning, investment and accountability
Improved targeting and impact of resources
Evidence-based decision making
Strengthened mutual accountability

3. Key Components of SWA
SWA aims to make this happen through three key components:
1) High Level Meeting (HLM),
2) 2) Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water, and
3) National Planning for Results Initiative (NPRI).
So far, the SWA partnership counts 83 partners (as of May 2012), and the Government
of Ghana is a member.
The first HLM was held in 2010 and the second one in 2012. Finance and Sector
Ministers, and high level government officials from 45 developing countries
participated in the 2012 High Level Meeting process, and 37 developing countries
made country-specific commitments to make progress towards ensuring water and
sanitation for all.

4. Financial Commitments Non-Financial Commitments
The commitment was that Ghana will spend:
US$200 million annually up to 2015 to
facilitate the achievement of the MDG 7 Enhancing political prioritization and
target; commitment;
US$150 million annually towards the hygienic Linking policies to plans, programmes
treatment and disposal of septage and faecal and projects;
sludge and on storm water management;
Achieving good governance and
US$50million annually to reinforce hygiene accountability; and,
education and enabling elements for
sanitation promotion; and; Strengthening ownership and
leadership
0.5% of GDP to cover capacity building for
hygiene education and country-wide outreach
for Community-Led Total Sanitation
programme.

5. Analysis of Budgetary Allocation
Total Budgetary Allocation to Water and Sanitation Sector in 2012
Sub Sector
Water 242,313,508
Sanitation 13,945,853
Total 256,259,361
Water 94.6%
Sanitation 5.4 %

6. Government and Donor Contribution to total Water and Sanitation Budget,
2012

7. Government and Donor Contribution to total Water and Sanitation
Budget, 2012

8. Adequacy of the Budget Allocation
Funds Required per annum (2008-25)
GWCL GHC 162 m
CWSA GHC 135 m
Total GHC 297 m
ESHD/SESIP GHC 486 m
GRAND TOTAL GHC 783 m
Total Sector Budgetary Allocations for 2012 is GHC256,259,361
(32.7%)

9. Budgetary Allocations to Water and Sanitation
2011 and 2012

10. GDP Growth rate versus share of GDP allocated to the W & S sector

11. Comparison of Budgetary Allocations to the Other Essential Services

12. Status of Accomplishment: Total Financial Commitments
Year SWA Compact Government Financing Accomplishment
Domestic Loan Total
2011 600m 70,073,902 204,441,044 74,514,946 46%
2012 648m 83,191,845 382,575,282 465,767,127 72%

13. Key Issues
• Whilst total national revenue is increasing, the share for water is declining.
• As was the case last year, the government plans to provide 4,000 boreholes during 2012,
but the corresponding budget for this is not well itemized. There is a clear allocation of
GHS 20 million for rural water supply but this can only provide 2,000 boreholes even if
everything was to be used for infrastructure. It is not clear if there is additional allocation
for investments under the MWRWH allocation.
• It is apparent that there is no provision to make up for the shortfall in the 2011 target of
4000 boreholes. If measures are not taken to address the challenges which made it
impossible for CWSA to achieve their target, we could end up with a situation where an
average of 1000 boreholes per year are delivered instead of 4000 resulting in a total of
5,000 boreholes instead of the planned 20,000 over the 5 year period.
• It appears the phrase “additional investments” refers to what is expected to come from
DPs, but if government will still contribute something here, then we need to know how
much.
• Donor funds are expected to contribute about 7.4 per cent to the estimated national total
revenue and grants for 2012. But in the case of MWRWH, total donor funds are expected
to contribute up to be about 73.9%.
• Once again infrastructure is the focus, rather than services. The Service Delivery Approach
has still not been internalized by government.
• No budget line for Water Directorate

15. The second High Level Meeting of the Sanitation and Water for All partnership was
held in Washington, D.C. in April 2012.
The Government of Ghana was represented by
Honourable Kwabena Duffuor, MoFEP
Honourable Enoch Teye Mensah, MWRWH, and
Honourable Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, MLGRD

16. GHANA’S COMMITMENTS AT THE HIGH LEVEL MEETING (The Ghana Compact – 2012)
• Between 2010 and 2015, about 10 million Ghanaians are expected to gain access to improved
sanitation, thus raising the proportion of Ghanaians using improved sanitation facilities from
14% in 2010 to 54% in 2015.
• Ghana will continue the drive towards sustainable universal access with improvements in
service and water quality.
• Financial commitment of about USD400 million annually over a 5 year period from 2011 to
2015
• Revising and reinforcing the Ghana Compact in line with the country’s needs and capacity as
an emerging Middle Income Country and to reflect the joint responsibility of Government,
DPs and Civil Society for implementing the commitments.
• Focusing resources and attention on achieving and sustaining progress on equitable delivery
of the national and MDG targets especially for sanitation and WASH in schools.
• Developing and applying clear criteria for equitable targeting of resources at national and
sub-national level including indicators and mechanisms for monitoring performance.

17. • Commitment to fully implementing all national plans and strategies on sanitation and water.
• Moving rapidly towards a Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) and developing a government-led
sector-wide coordination mechanism involving all relevant stakeholders.
• Commitment to Monitoring, evaluating and reporting on progress in implementing the
Compact
• Establishing mechanisms to ensure accountability for progress, including an effective
monitoring and evaluation mechanism and transparency of resource management including
public expenditure reviews and tracking.
• Instituting an effective Sector Management Information system to strengthen the role of
monitoring and evaluation in sustainable services delivery.
• Continuing participation in the SWA Partnership, leading country level processes and
participating in all future high level meetings.
• Provision of adequate budget for post construction support, capital repairs and
maintenance.
• Developing a national programme for demand creation, and committing adequate resources
to support research and testing of WASH innovative tools/approaches, knowledge
management, promotion and application.