The Tamale Metropolitan Inter-Coordinated Committee on Sanitation, (MICCS) has visited Changli in the Tamale Metropolis to carry out a verification exercise ahead of scheduled assessment and expected declaration of open defecation free (ODF) status for the target section.
The visit came after receipt of notification about pre-assessment works conducted by members of the target community including its natural leaders.
The team, made up of officials of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, the Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, Waste Management Department as well as Social welfare and Community Development among other decentralized departments in the metropolis was met on arrival by the Assemblyman for the area Mr. Iddrisu Ibrahim who was there in the company of a few identified community champions otherwise known as natural leaders.
They were subsequently conducted round the target section as part of activities to verify the claim of improved Sanitation and Hygiene conditions.
You would recall that the section under consideration is on record to have been re-triggered in the year 2021 after failed attempts since the commencement of the project in 2015.
The team was impressed at the gains made so far. Briefing a cross section of the community members ahead of the verification exercise, the Tamale Metropolitan officer of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit, Hajia Sumayatu Alhassan explained the rationale for the visit.
She commended the stakeholders and indeed community members for what she described as doubling efforts at increasing access and utilization of improved sanitation facilities including household toilet construction totaling 50 out of the 51 or so houses across the catchment area.
Hajia Sumayatu used the occasion to encourage stakeholders to continue monitoring progress made so far and to take immediate steps to deal with any gaps identified.
In her concluding remarks, the officer hinted at planned assessment and subsequent declaration of ODF for the target community which is slated for a date yet to be determined.
She expressed hope that the performance of the Tamale Metropolis on the ODF league table will improve significantly compared with previous ones.