DirectAid partners CWSA to deliver water to rural communities
Kuwait-based international humanitarian NGO, DirectAid, has partnered the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) to provide potable water to rural communities in the country.
The two organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to commit to a two-year renewable partnership which will see DirectAid fund the construction of water systems to provide potable water for communities in need, as well as help the CWSA with capacity building initiatives.
The Director of the CWSA, Mr Worlanyo Kwadjo Siabi, and the Director of Finance of the agency, Mr Evans Asare, signed the MoU on behalf of their institution, while the Country Director of DirectAid, Mohammed S. A. Kashr, signed at a ceremony in Accra last Thursday.
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Quality partnership
Mr Worlanyo Siabi expressed gratitude to DirectAid for seeking to partner the CWSA to deliver such a humanitarian service to the needy.
He said the agency was keen on providing improved, durable and standardised water systems, as it sought new and better ways to help meet the water needs of rural communities and that the cooperation of organisations such as DirectAid was very critical.
“The Community Water and Sanitation Agency has a mandate to provide water and sanitation services for rural communities and its mandate started as far back as the early 90s and as of today we can talk about some 62 per cent of water coverage.
It means that we have a lot more to do, some 38 per cent to do and this support, this cooperation also strengthens our hands to ensure that we cover the rest of the communities.
We are grateful to our partners, DirectAid, for agreeing to come and collaborate with us and also to support our country, we are really grateful,” he said.
DirectAid
The NGO currently operates in 30 African countries, providing humanitarian services in education, clean water, rural development and health delivery.
DirectAid’s Ghana office started operation in 1988 and has four branches in the Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti and Northern regions.
According to Mohammed S. A. Kashr, DirectAid had provided 163 boreholes fitted with hand pumps at a cost of GH¢2.8 million this year alone, distributed in eight regions.
He expressed gratitude to the CWSA for agreeing to work with it, saying it would leave the selection of beneficiary communities in the hands of the CWSA, while it provided the funding and other support services.
He told Graphic Online that the NGO, funded mainly by individual Kuwaitis and other nationals, would not hesitate to forward any big water projects to the Kuwaiti government for support if Ghana was to make any such plans available.