GHANA CHOSEN AS HEADQUARTERS FOR WEST AFRICA WASH SECTOR JOURNALIST NETWORK
Ghana has been chosen as the headquarters for the West Africa Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Journalists Network at the first General Assembly (GA) held in Accra.
The decision is a follow up of a meeting held in Bamako, Mali in 2010, where journalists discussed the modalities and need for a regional network of journalists who report on water, sanitation and hygiene.
The occasion was also used to induct a seven-member Co-ordinating committee to oversee the affairs of the network for the next two years.
The co-ordinating committee members are from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Niger, Mali, Benin and Togo.
The GA which was organised by the Ghana Watsan Journalist Network (GWJN) with support from WaterAid West Africa (WAWA) and Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) attracted 29 journalists from Nigeria, Niger, Togo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Benin and Mauritania.
Objectives of the GA was to amplify the voice of the vulnerable, marginalised and poor as far as the WASH sector was concerned and the role of the journalist in ensuring that issues relating to the sector were brought to the attention of policy makers.
A member of the GWJN, Mrs Emelia Abbey noted in an interview with the Daily Graphic that, in Africa, precisely West Africa, a lot of down pours were experienced, but unfortunately, citizens were not able to access treated water.
This, she said, were the major causes of various water borne diseases in the country and Africa, adding that, governments ended up spending huge sums of money in treating those diseases.
She said what was necessary was for governments to provide the basic necessities which every citizen had a right to in order to prevent the out break of diseases related to water, sanitation and hygiene.
The decision is a follow up of a meeting held in Bamako, Mali in 2010, where journalists discussed the modalities and need for a regional network of journalists who report on water, sanitation and hygiene.
The occasion was also used to induct a seven-member Co-ordinating committee to oversee the affairs of the network for the next two years.
The co-ordinating committee members are from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Niger, Mali, Benin and Togo.
The GA which was organised by the Ghana Watsan Journalist Network (GWJN) with support from WaterAid West Africa (WAWA) and Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) attracted 29 journalists from Nigeria, Niger, Togo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Benin and Mauritania.
Objectives of the GA was to amplify the voice of the vulnerable, marginalised and poor as far as the WASH sector was concerned and the role of the journalist in ensuring that issues relating to the sector were brought to the attention of policy makers.
A member of the GWJN, Mrs Emelia Abbey noted in an interview with the Daily Graphic that, in Africa, precisely West Africa, a lot of down pours were experienced, but unfortunately, citizens were not able to access treated water.
This, she said, were the major causes of various water borne diseases in the country and Africa, adding that, governments ended up spending huge sums of money in treating those diseases.
She said what was necessary was for governments to provide the basic necessities which every citizen had a right to in order to prevent the out break of diseases related to water, sanitation and hygiene.
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