Driving Access and Equity in Water: The enabling environment for reaching last mile communities in Ghana
Saha Global and the Ministry of Works, Housing and Water Resources in collaboration with Resource Centre Network, are hosting a national session on:
Driving Access and Equity in Water: Enabling Environment for Last-Mile Communities in Ghana
This session will discuss insights from Saha Global’s last mile service delivery approach with a specific emphasis on the financial challenges and realities of serving small, scattered, and hard to reach rural communities in Ghana. The Ministry will then lead a workshop-style discussion session to explore innovative and practical financing mechanisms that can support consistent safe water delivery to last mile communities.
The session aims to advocate for and support the Ministry in developing frameworks that ensure equitable access to safe water for all, leaving no one behind.
Join sector professionals for a vibrant discourse.
Programme
| Time | Activity | Responsibility |
| 08:30-9:30 | Registration/ Networking | All |
| 09:30 – 10:00 | Opening Prayer/Introductions | Facilitator |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Opening Remarks / Purpose of Meeting | MWHWR / Saha Global |
| 10:15 – 11:00 | Presentation | Saha Global |
| 11:00 – 11.20 | Coffee Break | All |
| 11:20 – 12:30 | Discussion on innovative and practical financing mechanisms that can support consistent safe water delivery to last mile communities. | MWHWR |
| 12:30 – 13:00 | Wrap-up on the way forward/ Lunch/ Close | MWHWR / Facilitator |
Session Brief
Background
Access to safe drinking water is recognized by the Government of Ghana as a fundamental human right and a critical public health necessity. While substantial progress has been made in urban and peri-urban areas—thanks to government initiatives and private sector participation—many last-mile communities remain severely underserved. These communities are typically small, remote, and low-income, making water service delivery both challenging and costly.
According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program (2022), over 2 million people in rural Ghana still need to be served with safe water. Addressing this gap requires bold thinking—both in innovating service delivery models and reimagining sustainable financing mechanisms that can work in these hard-to-reach areas.
This NALLAP session will convene key stakeholders in the water sector to explore what it takes to build an enabling environment that guarantees safe, reliable, and equitable water access for all, especially those living in Ghana’s last-mile communities.
Objectives
This presentation aims to:
This session will be co-hosted by Saha Global and the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, through the Water Directorate. It will include two main segments:
- Experience Sharing – Saha Global
Saha Global will share insights from over 15 years of delivering safe water to last-mile communities through a women-led service model. The presentation will highlight the realities — both operational and financial — of sustaining water access in some of Ghana’s most underserved communities.
- Workshop Discussion – Water Directorate, MSWR.
Following the presentation, the Water Directorate will lead an interactive, workshop-style discussion. This will offer participants the opportunity to collaboratively explore innovative and practical financing mechanisms for last-mile water delivery. The goal is to surface actionable ideas that can inform national efforts to strengthen equity in water access.
With over 2 million Ghanaians still relying on unsafe water sources, the sector must find new ways to ensure no community is left behind. This session will provide a space to align experience, policy, and innovation around one of the most persistent challenges in the WASH sector: reaching the last mile.