WSUP has been working to catalyse the Ghanaian market for improved sanitation through introducing and selling affordable and desirable products. While it sounds simple, efforts to sell various sanitation products in Ga West (in Greater Accra) and Kumasi were thwarted by overarching issues that prevented potential customers from purchasing and installing sanitation products in their homes.
Using quotes from residents of Ga West and Kumasi as discussion points, this report explores the financial, social, legal and physical hurdles to improving household sanitation in Ghana. We demonstrate the impact that such a ‘disabling’ environment can have on market-based programmes and make suggestions for practical activities that WSUP and other actors could pursue to ease the path to the market for safe sanitation products in the future:
- Incentivise product and business development to reduce costs
- Reduce dependence on public toilets as primary sanitation facilities
- Enforce existing by-laws in a sensitive manner
- Target and inform landlords about investing in sanitation
- Increase local government funding for sanitation activities
- Tailor financial mechanisms to be more inclusive
- Apply subsidies carefully to avoid distorting the market