Kaduna rural agency, CSOs, media partner for effective implementation of P-WASH programme

Published

3 months ago

November 4, 2022

The Kaduna State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (Kaduna RUWASSA) has taken steps to strengthen partnership with Civil Society Organisations and media in the implementation of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programmes.

Partnership for Expanded Water Supply

The partnership is to also ensure effective implementation of the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (P-WASH) programme in the state.

National Programme Coordinator

The National Programme Coordinator, P-WASH, Mrs Jummai Wakaso, stated this in Kaduna on Thursday during a meeting with CSOs and journalists to strengthen partnership and collaboration for the project.

Magaji Abubakar

Wakaso, who was represented by Mr Magaji Abubakar, Chief Water Engineer of the programme, explained that P-WASH was a 15-year programme designed to improve rural water supply sanitation and hygiene.

Federal Ministry of Water Resources

She explained that the national multi-sectoral collaborative programme inaugurated in 2016 was being driven by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources toward achieving SDGs 6.1 and 6.2.
She said that the main objective was to prioritize the achievement of 100 per cent access to water supply and improved sanitation by 2030 in rural areas.

The coordinator said that the expected outcome was for all rural inhabitants to have access to safe and sustainable water and improved sanitation and hand washing facilities.

Federal and States

“The programme is based on a counterpart machine grant between the Federal and States government, where the federal government provides the same amount a state government provides for the programme.

“The pilot programme has been successfully completed in Kano and Ogun states with the rehabilitation, upgrade, and construction of 738 water supply facilities in eight local government areas.

“After the pilot, the programme was scaled up to the remaining states and 34 states have indicated interest out of which 19 states were currently implementing the programme.

According to her, the ability of Nigeria to increase access to water supply and sanitation depends largely on a systematic and holistic approach that coordinates all stakeholders’ inputs.

P-WASH Communication Consultant

Also speaking, the P-WASH Communication Consultant, Mr Umar Bari, said that improved relationships among RUWASSA, CSOs and media would improve rural WASH coverage and services in the state.

Bari explained that the objective of the meeting was to explore how best to strengthen partnership among various stakeholders to improve WASH services in rural communities.

“This is in line with the objective of the programme which is to strengthen partnership across rural WASH sub-sector, to ensure federal government work with the state government towards achieving SDGs.
“We strongly feel that RUWASSA should not be left alone to deliver the programme; there is the need for CSOs to help strengthen policy advocacy and accountability in the WASH sector.

“There is also the need for the media to help create the needed awareness and community mobilization to ensure a robust community participation in the programme,” he said.