Researchers identifies gaps in environmental sanitation sector

Accra, Feb. 15, - A study conducted by the Regional Water and Environmental Sanitation Centre, Kumasi, (RWESCK) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology has revealed a huge human resource capacity gap in the Water, and Environmental Sanitation (WES) sector.

    

The study further gathered that there were currently more social scientists in the WES sector than engineers, leading to imbalances in skills towards key areas such as hydrological investigations, operational planning, design of dams, and water structures as well as construction and borehole drilling.

    

Other areas identified in the shortfall included skills in Electro-mechanical equipment installations, water quality modelling, management and surveillance, and the Low cost groundwater treatment and drilling technology.

    

Mr Joseph Obeng-Poku, the Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resource (MSWR) at the opening of a national validation workshop in Accra on Thursday, said the research findings raises serious questions and concerns for worry.

He said the situation was unacceptable, as the country, through the various training institutions, has over the years provided such training, to equip the sector with the needed human resource capacity for its effective operation.

   

He acknowledged that the sanitation sector was challenging due to the increasing population rate, however, the challenge was how to build upon these capacities, to sustain the gains made by the sector.

    

The workshop, attracted participants from academia, Policy makers, the private sector, Civil Society Organisations and departments under the Ministry.

    

It was to validate the findings and facilitate the development of a policy framework for Human Resource Capacity building in the sector.

    

Participants would discuss, and identify the weaknesses in the training institutions, so that new courses being developed would impute the recommendations made to address the gaps.

   

It urged government and organisations to commit more funding to the training of employees with these specialised skills to meet the sector’s needs.

    

Professor Sampson Oduro Kwarteng, a Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and lead Researcher for the programme, said the study, conducted in 2017, was under the UNESCO-International Hydrological financing Programme.

     

Giving key highlights of the study, he said four thematic areas involving Water Resource Management and Development, Water Supply (Urban and Community Water), Environmental Sanitation (Waste Management), and Environmental Health and Hygiene, would be discussed.

    

He however stated that to address the identified gaps, there was an urgent need to fuse tertiary training with practical skills knowledge acquisition, where trainees would be led to interlace their courses with field works in order to gain hands-on experiences.

    

“In sanitation for instance, we need people who understand the design, operation and maintenance of specific amenities such as water treatment, solid waste facilities for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies”, he said.     

    

Madam Aba Antoinnette-Shor, the Human Resource Director at WaterAid Ghana, urged institutions to come up with innovative ways of financing capacity training in the face of the dwindling donor assistance in order to attain the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

  

She said advocacy on the environmental, water and sanitation must be enhanced, to address the issue of stigmatisation, so as to attract more young people into the sector.

GNA