As Ghana prepares to unveil its 2025 national budget, stakeholders in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector are intensifying calls for increased government investment to bridge the country’s WASH access gap and meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 by 2030.
A statement issued by Ibrahim Musah, Head of Policy, Strategy, and Campaigns at WaterAid Ghana, emphasized that without a substantial financial commitment, Ghana risks falling behind on its WASH targets, deepening social inequalities, and slowing economic progress.
“With the government’s ‘Resetting Ghana’ agenda, this budget presents a pivotal moment to make transformative investments in WASH,” the statement highlighted.
The advocacy push aligns with campaign promises made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its 2024 election manifesto, which pledged to expand social services, including WASH, as part of a broader commitment to equity and social justice. The NDC has also endorsed the WASH Manifesto developed by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), which calls for stronger policy focus and increased financing.
Despite some progress, Ghana’s WASH sector still faces major challenges. The 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) estimated that while water access stands at 87.7%, disparities persist between urban and rural areas. Sanitation coverage remains critically low at 25.3%, and hygiene services reach only 50% of the population, with post-COVID-19 hand hygiene promotion still a challenge.
More concerning is the sector’s chronic underfunding. Since 2016, WASH has received less than 1% of government expenditure, with heavy reliance on donor funding—an approach stakeholders argue is unsustainable. The Ghana WASH Sector Development Programme estimates that $1.7 billion in annual investment is required to achieve universal WASH access by 2030.
“To accelerate progress, the government must significantly boost investments in sanitation and hygiene at household, school, and healthcare facility levels,” the statement urged.
As the 2025 budget announcement looms, WASH advocates are watching closely, hoping to see concrete financial commitments that translate policy pledges into real, sustainable improvements for millions of Ghanaians.
