Dr. Eva Akanchalabey (standing) addressing the participants at the meeting
Four assemblies in the Upper East Region have caused financial loss to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to an amount the agency is yet to reveal.
They are Bawku West, Builsa North and Pusiga Districts and Bawku Municipality.
UNICEF put the cash in their trust in phases between 2012 and 2017 to help sensitise their communities to the harmful effects of sanitation, a widespread practice the organisation together with the Government and other partners, is pushing hard to eradicate from the region.
Whilst some of the 15 assemblies in the region can show some encouraging results for the sanitation funds received from the UN entity, the four assemblies cannot account to the UNICEF team.
The issue came to light when the Upper East Regional Inter-agency Coordinating Committee on Sanitation (UERICCS) held a review meeting in Bolgatanga, with a group of people UNICEF calls ‘Social Norms Campaign Champions’ composed of traditional authorities, religious leaders, the media and music industry players.
An assessment table, which reflects the degree of commitment each assembly in the region has shown so far towards ending open defecation, was presented at the meeting.
Divided into seven categories, the table shows the marks each district and municipality got in 2017 with or without funding support from the UNICEF.
According to Dr Akanchalabey “we’ve dropped some of the districts that are not performing well, we give you funds to work, at the end of the day, we come and don’t have results to show, we also ask ourselves, why will we continue funding you if we are not getting results?
“You go there, the results are just not coming whilst others are making it, we’ve dropped some of them and we picked others, we are now opening it to everybody, apply and say you will give us results, give you support based on the results we get,” Dr Eva Akanchalabey, the Upper East Regional Consultant for UNICEF lamented.
Garu-Tempane was excellent at the World Toilet Day commemoration with 54.81 per cent, Binduri, excellent at the Electoral Area Level League Table, was second with 37.69 per cent, Bawku West with an excellent grade at World Toilet Day Commemoration was third, obtaining 36.14 per cent, Kassena-Nankana West was fourth with 23.55 per cent, Bongo occupied the fifth position with 22.28 per cent while Bawku was sixth with 21.74 per cent. –starrfmonline.com
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