A half day consultation workshop on guidelines on Integrated Wastewater and Faecal Sludge Management (IWFM) in Ghana

Date: September 6, 2019
Venue: Erata Hotel, Ouagadougou Avenue, Okponglo, East Legon, Accra, Ghana

Aim
To finalise the Guidelines on Integrated Wastewater and Faecal Sludge Management(IWFM) for Ghana

Objective
To review the IWFM (draft) guidelinesprepared by CSE, India and CSIR-IIR, Ghana - by taking valuable inputs and feedbacks from the relevant stakeholders invited in this meeting. 

Background
The IWFM guidelines will be a technical document that will help Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in Ghana to implement the District Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plan (DESSAP). DESSAP is to be prepared by district-level actors (Waste Management Department, Town Planning Department, Community Water and Sanitation Authority etc.) facilitated by regional-level actors, which feed into the national-level NESSAP.

The format of DESSAP only helps in understanding the gaps in sanitation provision and ends up projects being proposed in an ad hoc manner. For example, FSTPs have come up at various locations in Ghana without the demand for emptying being evaluated or liquid waste of the target area being taken care of.

There is a lack of guidelines document owned by local government that can help the practitioners to plan and implement faecal sludge and wastewater management. The IWFM guidelines is proposed to fill this gap. It will act as a bridge between action plans proposed under DESSAP and the implementation of projects on the ground. It will also provide direction to practitioners to plan and implement projects that are low cost, nature based, equitable and sustainable.

CSIR and CSE have taken the initiative to work in this area and have signed anMoU in mainstreaming city water and sanitation including effective faecal sludge and sepatge management (FSSM) and decentralised small scale wastewater treatment systems for local reuse in Ghana. 

Under this MoU, CSE and CSIR are preparing an Integrated Wastewater and Faecal Sludge andSeptage Management guidelines. And have agreed to conduct joint research to improve and strengthen sanitation in Ghana as a part of technical and advisory support. CSE and CSIR will support associated institutions in planning, designing and implementing model projects to showcase effective and affordable faecal sludge and decentralized wastewater treatment for local reuse. CSE will help strengthen CSIR (and associated institutions) staff’s technical capacities by conducting training, workshops, consultation and meetings on water management, wastewater technologies and faecal sludge management.

About CSE and CSIR
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a public interest research and advocacy organisation, researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable.The global water programme of CSE has evolved to help in establish policy principles, innovative technologies and implementation strategies for water and wastewater management in India. These efforts have been directed towards meeting the twin goals of laying the foundations for a water prudent society and adapting for climate change. CSE has been an important thought-leader in water management sector. It has already influenced global policies and strategies to focus on the sustainable sanitation by mainstreaming Wastewater and Faecal Sludge Management.

The programme aims to share solutions with other countries in the developing world from Africa and Asia that are enjoined in a common struggle to find ways of meeting the needs of urban and rural populations in the current water and wastewater paradigm which are affordable and sustainable.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – Institute of Industrial Research (IIR) is Ghana's foremost industrial research and development Institute with unique combination of applied research and scientific instrumentation. The primary function of CSIR-IIR is to drive national development and global competitiveness in industry through scientific and technological research.

Target participants:
Representatives from the esteem institutions in Ghana – Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, World Bank, Environmental Protection Agency,Community Water and Sanitation Agency, Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation, IRC Ghana, IWMI Ghana, Sewerage System Ltd, Metropolitan assembly, Zoomlion Ghana and Universities (TBC).

#Participation in the workshop is based on invitation only