Status of Sanitation in Ghana and the Role of CSOs in Policy Processes

In June 2019, CLEAR AA and Twende Mbele worked with Ghana Monitoring and Evaluation Forum to commission a baseline study on collaboration between Civil Society and Government for improved accountability and government performance in the use of evidence and results in the sanitation sector. This baseline report provides a brief on the sanitation situation in Ghana; the processes which lead to the generation of sanitation-related data or evidence, and how these are used to inform or influence relevant sector policies. It starts with background information on the sanitation sector in Ghana, key actors and stakeholders and their roles. It also provides the different indicators necessary, at various levels, to assess evidence and the various policy making platforms.

The report concludes that although CSOs/NGOs play a significant role in the use of evidence in the sanitation sector, their involvement is largely limited to evidence generated from projects, and the meta-data related to this evidence production is not coordinated across civil society. Some of the indicators are disaggregated and not harmonized. This situation is inadequate and will have to be complemented by routine administrative data. The report recommends the need to develop agreed sets of indicators, channelled through government’s administrative data framework (GSGDA II, NDPC, 2014). It also suggests some important measures required of NGOs/CSOs in the evidence generation processes must be adhered to, if they are to inform sanitation policy and make the desired impact.