The CEO and management of the Northern Development Authority (NDA) held an exploratory meeting with Trend Group and Calabash Aid in the NDA Liaison Office in Accra. The meeting aimed to explore post-construction strategies and actions that need to be implemented to guarantee the sustainability of the water and sanitation projects implemented by the authority across the five regions of northern Ghana.This meeting helped shape the scope and focus of the kinds of post-construction support services needed to trigger local ownership and guarantee the sustainability of the projects after the construction phase.

Then Northern Development Authority is implementing the construction of 570 dams, several boreholes and toilet facilities across the Northern Development Zone as part of Government of Ghana’s flagship programme dubbed “Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP)”. Within the programme are a range of initiatives; “One Village, One Dam”, provision of water and sanitation facilities, construction of educational and health facilities as well as the construction of bridges and roads across all constituencies in the zone. This is part of the Government’s commitment to spend $1 million in each constituency to address acute poverty by focusing on finding lasting solutions to the myriad of infrastructural challenges experienced in these communities over the years.

Northern Development Authority, Dr Alhassan Sulemana Anamzoya expressed the institution’s commitment to ensure the optimization of programme outcomes and impact within this partnership. He also hinted that the sustainability of the IPEP projects is an important core value of the Northern Development Authority.

“I would like Trend Group and Calabash Aid to be creative, innovative and practical at helping our communities to design and adopt resilient sustainable solutions that guarantee value for money of all our water and sanitation initiatives across the zone”, he added.