This document discusses challenges and solutions for building sustainable capital for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) projects at the community level in Ghana. It outlines that communities currently bear 100% of operation, maintenance, expansion, and capital replacement costs. Key challenges include lack of qualified personnel, ineffective collection and management of funds, lack of growth, and catastrophic events. Proposed solutions include improved collection, district-level accounting support, mobile banking, audits, community savings programs, and risk pooling schemes. The document recommends establishing a national water fund, elevating the Community Water and Sanitation Agency's authority, and implementing a two-tier compulsory investment policy.

1. Building Sustainable Capital for
WASH
Presentation at Mole XXIII Conference, UDS
International Conference Center, Tamale
21st – 25th August 2012
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2. Introduction/Background
Under community ownership and management (COM) concept,
communities bear:
 100% of operations and maintenance costs
 100% system expansion costs
 100% Capital replacement costs
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3. Challenges to building sustainable capital at
the community level
• Qualified personnel for specialized roles eg
accountants for small towns
• Collection (lack of tariff, inadequate tariff,
ineffective collection, ineffective controls at
collection points)
• Management (Banking, pilfering, abuse)
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4. Challenges to building sustainable
capital at the community level - 2
• Growth (lack of it, leading to erosion of
value resulting from inflation, discrete, lack
of scale)
• Catastrophic events – Power failures
leading to burning of motors, floods etc
• Inflation
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5. Proposed solutions
1. Collection: Better community
enforcement based on best practices
2. Management :
– District level accounting support
– Mobile Banking,
– District Assembly Audit
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6. Proposed solutions -2
3. Investment
 Community based savings and loans,
 Pooling and tapping on capital market
4. Community based risk pooling and risk
sharing schemes, (eg, Water Mutual
Insurance and Commercial Insurance)
– Can deal with catastrophic events
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7. Policy Recommendations
• Implement National Water Fund – starting
with non-state funding sources
• Elevate CWSA from Agency to authority,
with greater financial oversight
responsibility over rural water operations
• Redefine ownership of the portion of the
funds to be set aside for capital replacement
- from community to state (CWSA)
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8. Policy Recommendations
• Compulsory two-tier investment policy for
Community Water Management Teams
1. Compulsory contribution to a Pooled fund -
CWSA level (20%)
2. Compulsory contribution to a Private financial
firm of community ‘s own choice
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9. Conclusion
• Maximum financial benefits of community
management can only be realized if the
proper balance of decentralization versus
central control is achieved
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10. • Thank you
• For more information contact
• skyfoxltd@gmail.com
SkyFox Ltd