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Public-Community Partnership in Savelugu, Ghana

Facts:

• Three quarters of Ghanaians live in poverty, and nearly 70% of them have no access to safe drinking water.   The lack of clean water is attributed to 70% of all disease in the country, ranging from typhoid to cholera and Guinea worm.
• In 2001, the Ghanaian government raised water rates by 95% to help pay off debts, forcing many poor households to spend up to 20% of their income on drinking water.   Many children were taken out of school so their families could afford water.  

Pressured by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Ghanaian government planned in 2001 to stop subsidizing the cost of water, open the doors to multinational water companies, and sell water to the poor at full market price.  Facing corporate invasion, led by the likes of Vivendi, Saur, Suez and Biwater, Ghanaians and concerned people around the world are asking, What’s the alternative? Ghanaian lawyer, activist, and leader of the Ghana National Coalition Against the Privatization (CAP) of Water Rudolf Amenga-Etego suggests a community-based water management model that employs collaboration between public utilities and local communities, which has been shown to be an effective alternative to privatization.

In the small town of Savelugu, the Ghana Water Company Ltd, a public company, supplies bulk water to the community, which is then responsible for the pricing, distribution and infrastructure maintenance. Both the community and the public company benefit from their partnership.  The community is given a greater role in management and is able to negotiate with the company on behalf of its members.  Equitable water access by all members of the community is guaranteed by the transparency of popular decision-making.  People who cannot afford to pay for water are known in the community and exempt from any cost through progressive subsidies. Between 1999 and 2002, the improvement in clean water access was reflected in the declining number of the community’s Guinea worm cases, which dropped from 667 to 23.  Meanwhile, Ghana Water Company Ltd achieved 100% tariff recovery rate for the water supplied for four consecutive years, compared to an average recovery rate of 60% from other areas serviced directly by the company.  In addition, the company saves the costs of billing and collecting tariffs from the community.

Savelugu’s community-based system is now being used as a model for small towns throughout Ghana.   The Ghana anti-privatization movement was boosted in early 2003, when the Ghanaian government agreed to suspend its water privatization project.  However, challenges remain as the Ghana Water Company Ltd lacks the capacity to meet the total daily water requirement of the Savelugu community, and the Ghanaian government, still seeking full cost recovery in the nation’s water sector under the influence of the IMF and the World Bank, is currently working toward a parliamentary approval of a new water privatization plan -- and this time the World Bank has hired a public relations firm to promote the plan through a media campaign.

Related Articles:

An interview with Rudolph Amenga-Etego

"Why We Must Stop Water Privatization in Ghana," The Bretton Woods Project (pdf)

more resources

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