He said the WASH system included all individuals, households, communities, both public and private organisations, whose actions and inactions influenced the universal availability of quality WASH facilities.

Dr Buckle said there was the need to change the design of the system by ensuring that it was aligned to the ultimate purpose to meet the expectations of the people.    He said to ensure that the WASH system initiatives worked effectively, it must warrant ownership, technical capacity building, governance, strong partnerships, sustainability and resilience.

Dr Buckle made the call at the first national learning exchange on district-based/district wide initiatives, focused on building and strengthening strong local systems to deliver safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene.

The workshop, organised by IRC, an NGO, in collaboration with WaterAid was on the theme: “Strengthening Local Government Systems to Deliver Safe and Sustainable WASH Services.”     It sought to advance better understanding of various district-focused approaches and how local governments and partners are fulfilling their roles and responsibilities in supporting the provision of WASH services in different contexts.

It was also aimed at generating clear and strong recommendations for strengthening local systems for improved service delivery towards achieving the WASH SDGs.  Dr Buckle said if there was no change in the system’s implementation process, especially at the local governance level, then the country would not get the desired results to achieve the SDGs 6 by 2030.

The Consultant noted that, all WASH initiatives sought to ensure that the people are healthy and productive and therefore it was important that the local government institutionalises plans and structures at the districts to achieve the target.

He, however, advised districts to ensure that their quality dimension of WASH activities was safe, equitable, meets the user needs, timely, effective and efficient to address their challenges.

Dr Buckle stated that for decades, institutions had been doing quick fixes, which was costing so much and urged that people make time to build the system to make it more robust and functional. 

Mr Jeremiah Atengdem, a Water Expert from IRC Ghana, explained that the local level must be strengthened to bring together the right partnerships, build the right networks, and mobilise the requisite funding to achieve the goal.

Mr Atengdem said the IRC believed in the collective impact theory that drives efforts towards achieving a goal, adding that, reaching SDGs 6 was very ambitious and demands collaboration to achieve it.

“We are working with the districts to develop a monitoring and evaluation learning framework which clearly spells out all the indicators, and how we are measuring and collecting data to ensure mutual accountability to ourselves,” he stated.