As you can understand, the urban poor in Ghana are in dire need of household or compound water connections. The good news is that Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) takes their public mandate for universal access very serious and they actively engage to connect the unconnected. That’s why the Ghana Red Cross and the Ghana Water Company Limited put their hands together. This is a unique partnership, combining the technical knowledge of utilities and the power of community engagement from Red Cross.
GWCL is a progressive public utility and has the technical know-how and infrastructure to manage the water engineering network. It strives towards inclusive water service delivery and has a specific unit dedicated to include low income communities and the urban poor. However, it's capacity to mobilize the community and drive behaviour change has potential to grow. The Ghana Red Cross has in-depth expertise in community involvement and behaviour change, thanks to a large volunteer base that is locally rooted and embedded in the community and years of experience in applying behaviour change techniques. Jointly, the Ghana Red Cross and Ghana Water Company will develop and implement a voucher system, to cover the costs of a household connection fee for the most vulnerable. Netherlands Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) support this partnership financially and technically.
The Red Cross Red Crescent Movement believes that partnerships with public water and sanitation utilities are essential for effective water and sanitation programs in the urban environment.
Before, we discussed the barriers to obtaining a water connection. However, it is equally important to understand the motivations behind people's desire for clean water. While it is commonly assumed that better health is the primary motivator, research has shown that factors such as pride and social status, convenience, and safety are much more significant. In Ghana, these motivations are further amplified by a sense of patriotism and the desire to build a stronger nation and a better future for their children. There is a strong sense of pride in seeing communities prosper, women and girls safely fetching water, and building trust among neighbors. As one of the respondents put it:
“We are hungry for water” – Female resident, Yalewa Zongo
Based on the motivations and barriers identified, several message briefs for the residents in the area were created. These message briefs reflect the key motivation for change, include a cue for action, and refer to the benefit obtained through the new behaviour. Four statements were developed for the Unconnected group. One of the goals for example, was to encourage saving habits. The corresponding message focused on saving money (action) that could help individuals get capital for a water connection (benefit), which would lead to easy access to water (benefit) and earning social respect (motivation). For the Connected group, five statements were developed. One example is about having inclusive understanding and good relationships among households (benefit). The message focused on encouraging shared and transparent billing and meter reading (action) to improve accountability and trust and gaining social development and peace (motivation).
The solutions implemented in the project are twofold, comprising a behavioural campaign and the use of voucher system. The behavioural campaign is based on the carefully crafted messages and aims to influence decision-making and shape individual and community actions. The campaign employs various channels that are tailored to the communication habits of the target groups, such as radio shows, community meetings, household visits and drama to initiate conversations and engage people. Ultimately, it is all about people transforming their behaviour and taking new action.
The campaign includes subsidies for the initial water connection. The most vulnerable households receive a 100% subsidy from the Red Cross, while the rest of the community households receive a 70% subsidy from the GWCL. Different payment schemes, such as per day or consumption and cash payment options are available in GWCL, but those need promotion to be known and understood. Additionally, a reward system with a customer of the month activity has been established to promote good customer behaviour, such as reporting leakages and paying bills on time. To ensure customer satisfaction, the GWCL has established a customer feedback system. The Water User Association in the communities is assisting with this effort by helping to receive feedback and prompting GWCL to respond accordingly. Lastly, to gain customers' trust, GWCL officials need to be well-dressed, carry a valid ID, speak in understandable language, and maintain a familiar relationship with their customers.
We are about to start and make progress in providing water connections to Ghana's urban poor. Together GWCL and GRCS have united in a unique partnership making the best use of their strengths and expertise. So far since we started, we have collected information about barriers and motivations to access clean water, gaining valuable understanding of the context used to design solutions that put user behaviour at the center of the intervention. The use of the voucher systems and the design of the behavioural campaign as solutions show a lot of potential for increasing water access to poor urban dwellings. We hope to test this approach effectively and provide solid evidence on whether it works. We will provide more details about the results soon.
However, there are still countless people in Ghana and around the world who lack access to clean water. We must continue our efforts to scale up and expand our impact. As we move forward, we have to recognize the critical role that partnerships play in achieving our goals. Whether you work for the Red Cross, a water utility company, or in the WASH sector, we urge you to reach out to each other. By working together, we can make a real difference in the lives of those who are hungry for access to clean water.
Amina and Florence have their own opinions about water connections. Amina in the group of Unconnected finds it convenient to have a household water tap, but her husband and other male members in the compound have the final say. They don't consider the service reliable and don't trust the Ghana water agents. Additionally, they're unaware of any available subsidies to support the connection and lack the skills to navigate the administrative system to request one. They are also afraid they won't be able to handle monthly bills and prefer to pay the water bill with cash directly to vendors every time they buy a water container.
Florence, on the other hand, is proud of her water connection, as it pleases visitors with fresh water that takes less than five minutes to collect. However, she feels the bill is very expensive and doesn't accurately reflect their actual consumption. She thinks other households in the compound consume more water than her and still pay the same amount. She has never seen the bill and doesn't understand how the meter works. She has complained about irregularities during the dry season to the compound leader and assembly man, but she hasn't received any feedback.
Goal: Encourage saving habits
Motivations: Pride and social status
Barriers: Not prioritizing the water bill
Key influencers: Family, Community Based Organizations, community associations
For the Connected an example could be as follows.
Goal: Inclusive understanding and good relation among households
Motivations: Building mutual trust, desire for accountability, feeling valued, desire of peace
Barriers: Fear of ejection, resistance from the landlord
Influencers: Religious leaders, landlord, husband, Red Cross volunteers
Let's take a look at the actual message briefs now. As we discussed earlier, one of the behavioural goals for the Unconnected group is to encourage saving habits. A message to support this could be:
"Saving money helps you get the capital needed for a water connection. Once you have easy access to potable water, you will earn respect."
For the connected group, one of the behavioural goals was to promote inclusive understanding and good relations among households. A message that could be used is:
"Improve your accountability by participating in shared billing and meter reading. This will help create a sense of community and ensure that everyone pays their fair share."
Specific to Ghana are the CiCs, or Community Information Centers and the organization of community meeting called dabbas. CICs are equipped with powerful megaphones that make announcements to the community. The facility consists of a microphone and horned speakers, mounted on a small building in the center of transport hubs or markets, as well as display billboards for posters, banners, and murals. In the context of water connections, the CiCs can be utilized to invite people to community meetings or advertise the Red Cross radio shows. The dabbas are traditional meetings called by community or religious leaders and they are used typically to gather large amount of people to be informed about recent events or decisions.