ISEES in collaboration with African Center for Culture, Tourism and Human Development and The Youth Volunteers for the Environment – YVE Ghana has held workshop to launch the Youth forum on Environmental Sanitation, YOUTHFES on March 20th 2015 at the Accra Training Colllege of Education (ACCRACO) in Accra.
The forum was participated by over 150 participants. The forum was relevant to drum down the need for Ghanaian Youth to be conscious of their environment in the wake of serious sanitation issues facing the country. The forum was also to mobilize youth to participate in the on-going monthly National Sanitation Day campaign initiated by the government.
It brought together secondary and tertiary student leaders and other development partners within communities to drive good sanitation message to the people.
Mr Rex Gerchie, Programme Director for Institute of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Solution (ISEES) who spoke on ‘waste as a resource for human development,’ said the large volumes of waste generated in the communities can serve as a major source of raw material, and create the needed employment opportunities for the Youth.
Mr Eric Adzor-Daniels, Executive Director of the African Centre for Culture, Tourism and Human Development (ACC THD) and the Youth Volunteer for the Environment (YVE) who initiated Youth-FES, said the primary objective was to sensitize the youth on improved sanitation.
He said the Youth are key to promoting environmental sanitation, hence the need to rationalize communities to support the sanitation day to implement practical effective sanitation plans.
Mr Adzor-Daniels disclosed that Youth-FES clubs would be formed at tertiary and secondary levels in all districts, with emphasis on most affected poor sanitary communities, to prevent the frequent visits to hospitals.
Nii Lante Vanderpuye, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development in a speech read for him by Miss Hennerietta Osei-Tutu, a Public Health Engineer, said, poor sanitation management poses a threat, and ‘this situation if allowed to go unchecked, can have adverse effects on the sustainability of the NHIS, since most of these diseases, like diarrhea, cholera and typhoid, are all covered by the scheme.
He pointed out that the NHIS benefits to the people depend on good sanitation management, adding,’we must therefore be conscious of making our surroundings clean.
Nii Lante said government alone cannot manage waste however resourceful it can be, and called for concerted efforts of all to see sanitation management as everyone’s business.