Accra, 03 December 2015: A three-day inter –regional workshop on Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLASS) TrackFin Initiative was held in Accra, Ghana from 01-03 December, 2015.  The purpose of the Workshop was to provide an overview of upcoming GLAAS cycle 2016; to present the outcomes of the implementation of TrackFin conducted in Morocco, Brazil and Ghana, share the lessons learned and opportunities for improvements; to plan, support and develop TrackFin country plans for newly engaged countries and others interested in being engaged in 2016/2017; to launch the TrackFin Global Coordination Platform.

In a brief statement during the opening, Ms Joana Ansong (WHO, Ghana) on behalf of the Country Representative, Dr Owen Kaluwa reiterated some benefits of the TrackFin Methodology.  “While countries benefit from implementing TrackFin by having evidence base for decisions, it is important not to lose sight of the bigger picture TrackFin contributes to. By having a better understanding of financial flows in the WASH sector, interventions can be better targeted leading to improved outcomes in both the WASH and health sectors”, he said.  

Dr Kaluwa also emphasized the importance of the linkages between WASH and Health as tracking finance to WASH can lead to positive health gains.

Dr Fiona Gore, a WASH Expert from the World Health Organisation, Geneva said WHO is currently leading an initiative was known as the Tracking Finance (TrackFin) under the UN-GLASS, to define and test a globally accepted methodology to track financing to WASH at the national level, and further facilitate evidence-based decision making.

According to her the TrackFin, has the potential to fill this gap, and generate a body of information over time that would greatly enhance existing knowledge about WASH sector financing, and at the same time facilitate country initiatives in working towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) provisions, while contributing to more accurate international reporting.

She said a detailed Guidance Document on the methodology has therefore been developed by the WHO, targeting institutions responsible for monitoring and financing the WASH sector at the national level.  She said using standard classifications, the method would enable countries to comprehensively track financing into and through the sector, identifying how funds were allocated and used at the national, district and local levels.

Dr Gore, who is also the Project Manager of the (UN) Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water and Tracking Finance, indicated that WASH Accounts indicators would be set by the countries so they would be in a better position to bench mark results and obtain a clearer understanding of how disparities occur.

She said investing in TrackFin requires organisation, commitment and the willingness to institutionalise the process on a long-term basis, investing the requisite human and financial resources in the process to safeguard its permanent benefits.

In his key note address, Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, expressed concern about the dwindling financial support to the WASH sector, despite their increasing responsibilities as a result of global population increases. He said Ghana has embraced the TrackFin Initiative as headway to strengthening national systems for the collection and analysis of financial information for WASH policy- making and programming, and also help to improve the understanding of how financial resources for the sector are collected at both national and global levels.

Dr Agyeman-Mensah added that it would also be helpful to governments in answering key questions such as the total expenditure for the sector, how funds were disbursed between the different WASH services and types of expenditure, whether capital or operating expenditure, maintenance costs, and the cost of capital.     

He said the TrackFin pilot project which was carried out in Ghana requested for the reinforcement of coordination between all institutions in charge of financing, and also realised that it was more useful to segregate financial allocations, in order to track financing in the WASH sector.

Dr Agyeman-Mensah also urged participants to discuss ways of removing bottlenecks that hinder the smooth implementation of WASH TrackFin Initiative in their respective countries to help achieve the SDGs.

Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), said 2016 would be a year of action in terms of the implementation of sanitation activities and achieving results, and called for attitudinal change towards issues of sanitation and hygiene.  He urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to intensify the enforcement of sanitation bye-laws to serve as punitive measures to offenders, saying although “Habits developed by people cannot easily be changed overnight, but with continuous education and sensitisation there will be a meaningful change over time,” he said.

He also appealed to the media to intensify public education on the negative effects of open defecation, and encourage the provision of toilets in all domestic settings a shared responsibility by all stakeholders.

TrackFin is a UN-Water GLAAS initiative implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO) developed jointly with leading country sector institutions, national statistics offices, finance departments and international entities (such as UN Department of Statistics, the OECD and the World Bank) in charge of financial tracking and with support of a Technical Advisory Group constituted of experts.