Interview with Charlotte Engmann and Frempa-Yeboah

Interview with Miss Charlotte Engmann (CWSA)

What is your vision for WASHCost Ghana?
"My vision for WASHCost Ghana is a process that will enable us to get accurate and detailed information on unit cost for each type of system of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) promotion that we are involved in."

What is your expectation for the WASHCost Ghana Task Force?
''My expectations for the WASHCost Task Force are two folds:
1. A meeting in which we can learn from each other and
2. A meeting in which we can guide the WASHCost project and or process to enable it come out with the expected output."

What is the challenge for the WASHCost Task Force from your view?
"The challenge for WASHCost Task Force I believe will just be a single one. I am someone who does not normally see a lot of challenges in any process because I believe problems are there to be solved but one main challenge I see is the question of each member prioritising the WASHCost process enough to attend every all almost all meetings, so it is a question of time to meet to share, e-mail, and to answer and review documents."

Interview with Kwame Frempah-Yeboah (MWRWH)
Do you think there is an institutional overlap with respect to WASHCost?
"If you talk about Institutional overlap with respect to WASHCost, it would be important to understand what WASHCost is all about. I understand WASHCost to imply all costs related to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene promotion activities. The cross cutting nature of the WASH sector makes it a good entry point for many development interventions for which reason the sector has been characterized with multiplicity of institutions; And given the fact that they are linked institutionally to different ministries and having their own separate budgets and development plans there is a strong possibility for paths to cross. However, the fact that the legal and regulatory instruments that establish these institutions clearly indicate their mandates, I will want to talk about complimentary roles rather than overlaps especially in the sense that duplication is usually avoided through different collaborative mechanisms.
Zeroing in to WASHCost as a project, I will say that once the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing exists to provide overview of sector activities, including the cost of facilities that are provided, the WASHCost project activities would be mainstreamed to ensure complimentary roles rather than duplication of efforts. This can be enhanced through existing inter-ministerial and inter-agency collaborative arrangements."
What in your perspective is main challenge to WASHCost Ghana?
"The main challenge of WASHCost, I think has to do with the human resource support required by WASHCost Ghana from government institutions such as the Water Directorate which has only three (3) staff. WASHCost as a project will not operate with only its own staff to achieve its overall objectives; it will certainly have to work with the staff of sector institutions, such as staff from the Community Water and sanitation Agency, the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate etc. These staff already has a lot of activities on their hands and itʼs not a matter of earmarking anyone for full time WASHCost activities. The challenge therefore is how to get relevant supporting staff from government institutions at the time they would be most needed.
Other challenges relate to issues of, for example, establishing comprehensive cost centres that are agreeable to all ʽSector Role Playersʼ. This is challenging because total WASHCost, either related to a given project or facilities cannot be found in one given institution. If there is a borehole in a community for instance, and one wants to determine the total related costs including part of capital cost that might have been borne by the Government or a Donor project; 5% contribution from community; 5% from District Assembly; community mobilisation related costs; post construction follow-up costs etc. one is unlikely to pick the information from one source. There are even costs that are related to project preparation and project implementation support missions which are borne not only at national levels but at international levels by donor countries.
In addition, rapid price fluctuations due to inflation as well as price disparities emanating from different geographical locations may render established unit costs invalid over short periods of time."

What is the main challenge of this Institutional overlap?
"Regarding institutional overlap challenge, I dont think its much different from the point I made earlier. The fact that there are overlaps does not pose any serious challenge as the instruments establishing each institution indicates clearly what its mandates are.
A challenge I can think of relates to irregularities in terms of timing and consistency of inputs received from the plurality of sector institutions. This would call for harmonizing the ways things are done in the sector as much as possible"

By

Michele Adjei-Fah, Documentation and Communication Officer,WASHCost Ghana