1. Project Context

Ghana has formulated a Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) whose agenda for the period 2003 to 2005 calls for increased access to safe and sustainable water and sanitation coverage for rural and small town populations.  According to the strategy, increased access to safe and sustainable water is the key to better health outcomes and poverty reduction.  To achieve this, the strategy puts forward a three pronged approach 1) begin implementation of a Cabinet-approved comprehensive sector policy; 2) carry out hydrogeological data base mapping for better targeting of investments; and 3) support deprived districts in preparing water and sanitation plans to guide investments.

In conjunction with key stakeholders, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has designed the HAP to contribute to the collection and analysis of scientific data on groundwater with the long term objective of improving groundwater resource management and development in the northern regions of Ghana, and thus contribute towards achieving the WATSAN targets set within the GPRS through an enhanced knowledge base and understanding of the hydrogeological conditions in the north of Ghana. The HAP project directly addresses the second strategy through collection and collation of existing data, and the collection of new data, and indirectly addresses the two other approaches by making groundwater data available for key decision makers and planners.

The HAP is a 30 month project valued at approximately $2.7 million Canadian dollars, or about 21.6 billion Ghanaian Cedis, and is scheduled for implementation from February 2006 to about August 2008.

2. Executing Agency

Following a competitive process in Canada, the SNC-Lavalin Inc. and Institute National de la Recherche Scientifique – Eau, Terre, Environnement (INRS-ETE) Joint Venture was selected as Canadian Executing Agency (CEA) for the HAP. 

The project will be implemented in conjunction with the Water Resource Commission (WRC) of Ghana, the key project stakeholder.
 

3. Project Goal and Objectives

The Project Goal is to “improve groundwater resource management and development in the north of Ghana”. The Project Purpose is to improve the knowledge base and understanding of the hydrogeological setting in the north of Ghana, and to contribute to the capacity development primarily of the personnel of the Water Resource Commission (WRC) and its partner institutions in technical and institutional aspects of groundwater planning and development.

As such, the targeted Project outcomes are:

• Increased access, by Ghanaian water resources institutions and other relevant agencies, to accurate groundwater resource information on the north of Ghana;

• Enhanced technical and institutional capacity of Ghanaian water resource institutions in the collaborative management of groundwater resources, integrating the use of gender analytical tools for analyzing planning data.

4. Approach and Scope of the Project

The approach of the project will be to achieve the expected results through two main thrusts:

• A Hydrogeological Assessment consisting of synthesis of existing data and contribution to the collection and analysis of additional data (through dedicated, consensus-driven pilot projects); and

• Capacity Building comprising technical capacity building focusing primarily on database management and resource development, but also including non-technical capacity building focusing primarily on enhancing the capacities of WRC in networking and in communicating with stakeholder institutions.

To carry out these activities, the means of delivery are based on 1) the Canadian Executing agency providing a full time Canadian Advisor residing in Accra, based in the offices of WRC, as well as a number of short-term consultants, both Canadian and Ghanaian, to undertake specific assignments as determined by the Canadian Executing Agency, in collaboration with WRC; and 2) Training sessions both in Ghana and Canada and establishment of linkages between WRC and the University of Quebec.

5. The Project Team

The HAP team consists of a core of Canadian and Ghanaian professionals from within the SNC/INRS Joint Venture and the Water Resources Commission:

Additional key team members include water quality, database and geophysical siting experts.