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 Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519

Human resources capacity in Ghana’s water, sanitation and hygiene

sector: analysis of capacity gaps and policy implications
S. Oduro-Kwartenga, I. Monneyb and I. Braimahc
a
Corresponding author. Department of Civil Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
E-mail: sokwarteng@yahoo.com
b
Department of Environmental Health and Sanitation, University of Education, Winneba, Mampong-Ashanti, Ghana
c
Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Abstract

Adequate human resources (HR) capacity in the water and sanitation sector plays a pivotal role in improving and
sustaining access to potable water and improved sanitation. This study highlights the HR capacity and gaps in
Ghana’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. It is based on data collected from five public sector organ-
isations, six non-governmental organisations (NGOs), 14 private sector institutions and 12 training institutions.
The results indicate that the proportion of technical HR was high (75%) in water service delivery, while technical
personnel in the sanitation sub-sector was low (2%), leading to low sanitation coverage and ineffective sanitation
service delivery. The female proportion ranged from 16 to 44% (average of 22%). There was a shortage of tech-
nical personnel in the public WASH sector due to unattractive working conditions, attrition and lack of qualified
graduates to fill vacant positions. Average annual graduates’ supply from non-technical programmes to the WASH
sector is five times more than that from technical programmes. There was a lack of commitment to implement
policies on developing adequate HR capacity in the WASH sector due to weak institutional arrangement. There
is the need to develop policies on HR career progression and capacity building programmes as well as gender-
sensitive recruitment policies for the WASH sector.

Keywords: Capacity building; Capacity gaps; Gender; Human resources; Water and sanitation

1. Introduction

Since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the year 2000, the international
community has committed itself to reducing poverty, improving health, and ensuring environmental sus-
tainability, inter alia (World Bank Group, 2013). The global community has therefore devoted significant
resources and energy to achieve the fundamental targets set out by the MDGs by 2015 (United Nations
Development Group, 2013). Although significant progress has been made, gaps still remain and greater
doi: 10.2166/wp.2014.293

© IWA Publishing 2015

 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519 503

efforts are required to achieve the necessary results with regard to global poverty and hunger, and child and
maternal mortality, inter alia (United Nations, 2012). This has set the stage for the development of the
United Nations (UN) Post-2015 Global Development Agenda, which commenced 3 years prior to the
MDG deadline of 2015 (Okeke & Nwali, 2013). Poverty reduction in particular is a key priority among
the MDGs, as indicated by its foremost position among them, and also features greatly in the proposals
for the UN Post-2015 Global Development Agenda (Loewe, 2012; Benson, 2013; Higgins, 2013;
United Nations, 2013). Available literature (Nicol, 1999; United Nations Development Programme/Stock-
holm Environment Institute (UNDP/SEI), 2006) indicates that access to potable water and basic sanitation
is intricately linked, in one way or another, to all efforts aimed at reducing poverty. As a result, improving
access to potable water and safe sanitation requires urgent attention if efforts to reduce poverty are to
succeed.
Recent statistics from the World Health Organization/United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO/
UNICEF, 2012) indicated that over 780 million people still lack access to potable water and 2.5 billion
(109) people lack improved sanitation. The current situation in Africa is even more disturbing. More
than 40% of the people without access to safe drinking water in the world are in Africa, while sanitation
coverage is just about 30% of the total population (MDG Report, 2013). Worse still, there are indi-
cations of possible reversals in drinking water coverage in the continent as expressed by the MDG
Report (2012). Particularly, sub-Saharan Africa is reported to have the lowest drinking water coverage
of 61% and sanitation coverage of 30% relative to other sub-regions (WHO/UNICEF, 2012).
In Ghana, much progress has been made in achieving the MDG targets on drinking water, while sani-
tation coverage still remains very low. Even though the drinking water coverage of 82% in 2008 exceeded
the national MDG target of 77%, the current sanitation coverage of 14% lags far behind the national MDG
target of 54% (Addai et al., 2009; WHO/UNICEF, 2010, 2012). The sanitation coverage has increased by
only 7% over the last two decades (WHO/UNICEF, 2012). At this pace, WaterAid (2010) asserts that it
will take over a century for Ghana to achieve its MDG sanitation target. A study in five African countries
by the Department for International Development/International Water Association (DFID/IWA, 2011)
shows the need to assess the human resources (HR) capacity requirements for meeting the water and sani-
tation MDG.
While the cost of achieving the MDG target on potable water and basic sanitation is known, there is a
dearth of information regarding the HR capacity requirements to achieve the set targets. According to
The Ghana Compact (2010), it is estimated that a total of GH¢2.4 billion (US$ 1.6 billion (109)) is required
to meet the MDG targets for water and sanitation in Ghana. Apart from the financial requirements, Cavill &
Saywell (2009) argue that there is an urgent need for the right number of people with the requisite skills to
provide these essential services. It is therefore imperative to assess the constraints to achieving the requisite
improvements in water and sanitation services in terms of staff strength, distribution by work type, qualifica-
tions and practical experience in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. This will play a pivotal
role in developing suitable programmes aimed at enhancing the capacity of the existing and future workforce
needed to achieve and sustain improved water and sanitation services as required by Target 7c of MDG 7 and
the proposed Post-2015 Development Agenda.
To address the HR shortage and skills’ gaps to meet the MDG water and sanitation targets, a number of
studies have been conducted in Africa (DFID/IWA, 2013c). This paper presents a study undertaken in
Ghana to assess the existing HR capacity and skills’ gaps and shortage; to assess the training and career devel-
opment needs of HR in the WASH sector; and to examine the strategies for HR attraction and retention in the
sector. It is intended to provide a point of departure for determining the HR capacity needs for improving and
504 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519

Fig 1. Institutional context for Ghana’s WASH sector1.

sustaining WASH services. This would contribute immensely to the development of appropriate capacity
building programmes and the necessary policies for HR capacity building in the WASH sector.

1.1. Institutional framework for Ghana’s WASH sector

Ghana’s WASH sector has a well-organised institutional framework that indicates how the sector
institutions are related to one another from policy formulation and implementation to service delivery.
This framework (Figure 1) categorises the sector institutions into three levels, namely: policy and plan-
ning at government ministries level; facilitation and regulation at the decentralised agencies and
departments level; and local service delivery at the local government and community levels. There
are a number of development partners who provide both financial and technical support for the
sector. Institutions under policy and planning are responsible for policy formulation, resource allocation
and monitoring and evaluation, while those under facilitation and regulation are mandated to ensure that
the provision of WASH services by the institutions under local service delivery is in line with the
national policies and standards. The institutions under all these categories, except local service delivery,
are mainly public sector institutions. Privately owned companies and non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) are more involved in local service delivery, particularly in rural and urban sanitation as well
as rural water supply. A number of training and research institutions are also involved in research
and capacity building in the sector. Formulation of policy to guide the operations of institutions in

1
MOFEP – Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning; WMD – Waste Management Department; DWST – District Water
and Sanitation Team.
 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519 505

the water sub-sector is the responsibility of the Water Directorate, under the Ministry of Water
Resources Works and Housing (MWRWH). Regulation and management of the sustainable utilisation
of water resources are the responsibility of the Water Resources Commission (WRC). Urban water
supply services in Ghana are the sole responsibility of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL),
a public utility company that is regulated by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, in terms of
setting water tariffs for consumers. GWCL has the legal mandate to provide potable water in urban
centres and does so through operation of about 86 water supply systems in all 10 regions of Ghana.
The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) is the key institution legally mandated to
facilitate the provision of safe drinking water and related sanitation services to rural communities and
small towns in Ghana. Rural communities obtain water mainly through hand-dug wells and boreholes
fitted with hand pumps, while small towns do so through piped systems using mechanised boreholes or
surface water abstraction. A number of these systems are managed either by the communities or by pri-
vate companies. The MWRWH coordinates the activities of the WRC, CWSA and GWCL.
Formulation and revision of the National Environmental Sanitation policy are the responsibility of the
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) and Ministry of Environment,
Science and Technology (MEST), while service delivery and implementation of polices are executed
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Local Government Service (LGS) and the Metropoli-
tan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). The MMDAs have Environmental Health and
Sanitation Departments/Units responsible for enforcement of environmental legislation, and public edu-
cation on sanitation, inter alia. In areas where wastewater treatment plants and landfill sites are available,
MMDAs are in charge of operation of the wastewater treatment plants but the collection of faecal sludge
and solid waste is mostly undertaken by private companies.

2. Methodology

Based on the institutional framework for the WASH sector, key institutions were purposively selected
across all the sub-sectors. These comprised five public sector organisations, six NGOs, 14 private sector
institutions and 12 training institutions (Table 1). Data on the public sector organisations represent the

Table 1. Sampled organisations involved in WASH for the study.

Category Organisations/agencies Total number sampled
Public sector Water Directorate (MWRWH) All staff data
CWSA All staff data
GWCL All staff data
Environmental Health and Sanitation (MMDAs) All staff from 216 MMDAs
WRC All staff data
NGOs International NGOs 3
Ghanaian NGOs 3
Private sector Consulting firms 5
Contractors 2
Water service operators 5
Sanitation service operators 2
506 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519

total number of personnel nationwide but that of the private sector and NGOs represents their respective
coverage areas. Table 1 shows the sampled organisations, which have been categorised into public
sector organisations, private organisations, and NGOs.
The HR data from the public institutions sampled cover all staff across the country. However, samples
of private organisations and the NGOs were selected from the Northern, Ashanti and Greater Accra
Regions of Ghana where a significant proportion is known to operate (Figure 2). Additionally, graduate
supply records from training institutions were collected and analysed.
Primary data regarding HR capacity in the various institutions were collected through administration
of structured questionnaires, which captured information on staff strength, gender distribution, job
categories, attraction and retention strategies, and existing shortage and skills’ gaps. Moreover, key
informant interviews, stakeholder workshops and focus group discussions on HR issues in the sector
were conducted to obtain further information on the subject matter. Depending on the various job des-
ignations of employees in the sector, the personnel were grouped into four main categories according to
DFID/IWA (2013c). These four categories are defined as follows:

• Technical personnel refers to persons professionally engaged in technical jobs specifically related to the
provision of water and sanitation facilities or infrastructure (e.g. civil/environmental engineers).

Fig. 2. Location map of most study organisations.

 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519 507

• Other technical personnel refers to persons professionally engaged in technical jobs that are required
in the planning, design and operation of water and sanitation facilities or infrastructure, but are not
WASH sector-specific (e.g. hydro-geologists, mechanical/electrical engineers, environmental scien-
tists, chemists, physicists, etc.).
• Administration and finance personnel refers to persons professionally engaged in the day-to-day
administration and management of funds (e.g. coordinating directors, budget and finance officers,
planning officers, HR, etc.). This category also includes persons who procure goods and services.
• Social development personnel refers to persons qualified or professionally engaged in hygiene pro-
motion or other relevant water, sanitation and health professions in the social sciences (e.g. health
promotion specialists, sociologists, community development workers, etc.).

The study was, however, not without constraints. The lack of a readily available database on HR
capacity issues in the various organisations presented an arduous task for representatives of some organ-
isations who consented to provide information. For some, this was their first time for compiling such
information. The study, however, employed some techniques, such as triangulation of the data provided,
to reduce the effects of these constraints.

3. Results and discussion

The results obtained from the study are presented and discussed under this section. It presents find-
ings on the characteristics of the existing HR in the WASH sector vis-à-vis the distribution of personnel
per job categories, gender distribution and the allocation of personnel among the public, NGO and pri-
vate sub-sectors. Additionally, it discusses HR supply from various training institutions for the WASH
sector; the contribution of funded projects to capacity building in the sector; the existing shortage and
skills’ gaps in the sector; and finally it reviews existing policies on HR and the implications of this study
on HR capacity development.

3.1. Existing HR and gender distribution in the WASH sector

Table 2 shows the gender-disaggregated data for study organisations that provided such information.
The public WASH sector institutions have a very low female proportion (ranging between 16 and 44%).
The urban water supply utility had the lowest female proportion (16%) while the WRC had the highest
female proportion (44%). The situation is not entirely different from the private sector and the NGOs,
which had an average female proportion of 20%. It was observed that females in the sector were mostly
in the administration and finance, and social development job categories. This is in consonance with
findings by Agyare-Kwabi (2013) who found a relatively high proportion of females (49%) at the
Environmental Health and Sanitation Departments as health inspectors, as compared to the Municipal
and District Environmental Health Inspectorate (7%) where decisions are mostly taken.
The low female proportion in the WASH sector is attributed to the low female participation in tech-
nical courses related to water and sanitation. This is perhaps due to negative sociocultural factors that
discourage females from pursuing such courses. Generally, female participation in science and engin-
eering-related courses is lower at the pre-tertiary and tertiary levels across the country. Gender-
disaggregated data per this study indicated that while the female ratio in the social development
508 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519

Table 2. Gender-disaggregated data for the study organisations.

Type of organisation Organisation Total employees Female proportion (%)
Public sector Water Directorate 6 17
CWSA 216 21
GWCL 2,911 16
WRC 32 44
NGOs Local NGO 1 12 17
Local NGO 2 9 44
Local NGO 3 15 13
International NGO 23 30
Private sector Consulting Firm1 13 15
Consulting Firm 2 9 11
Consulting Firm 3 15 13

programmes, and in the administration and finance programmes ranged between 32 and 91%, that of the
technical programmes was between 0 and 20%. Mirroring this finding, Gunawardana et al. (2013) also
reported between 13 and 36% female participation in 34 capacity development courses supported by
Cap-Net, an international network for capacity development in sustainable water management. Realising
the need to ensure gender parity, gender mainstreaming in water and sanitation service delivery has
gained much thrust in national and international discussions, debates and forums on water, sanitation
and hygiene. The significance of ensuring more participation of women in decision-making processes
in the WASH sector has been extensively documented (UN-HABITAT, 2006; Water and Sanitation Pro-
gram, 2010; Sadhu & Chakravarty, 2012). However, the findings of this study indicate that Ghana’s
WASH sector is largely male-dominated, even though several national instruments and policies exist
to address this issue.
Tables 3 and 4 show the distribution of the existing HR by job categories in the study organisations.
In the urban water supply sub-sector (GWCL), a significant proportion of the personnel are technical
personnel (44.8%) and other technical personnel (35.1%) due to its scope of operations. Currently,
the company is in charge of operation and maintenance of 86 urban water supply systems in Ghana

Table 3. Existing personnel per job category for public WASH sector organisations.
Staff strength
Other
Technical technical Administration and Social
WASH personnel n personnel n finance personnel n development
sector Institution (%) (%) (%) personnel n (%) Total
Public sector Water Directorate 5 (83.3) 1 (16.7) 6
CWSA 19 (8.8) 11 (5.1) 164 (75.9) 22 (10.2) 216
GWCL 1,304 (44.8) 1,022 (35.1) 566 (19.4) 19 (0.7) 2,911
WRC 24 (75.0) 2 (6.3) 6 (18.8) – 32
Environmental Health 6 (0.2) 53 (1.7) – 3,063 (98.1) 3,122
and Sanitation Units
in all MMDAs
Source: Field data collected by authors.
 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519 509

Table 4. Existing personnel per job category for private sector and NGOs.
Staff strength
Technical Other technical Administration and Social
WASH personnel n personnel n finance personnel n development
sector Institution (%) (%) (%) personnel n (%) Total
Private Contractor 1 43 (59.7) 22 (30.6) 4 (5.6) 3 (4.2) 72
Sector Contractor 2 2 (14.3) 8 (57.1) 4 (28.6) – 14
Private Water Operator 5 (55.6) 1 (11.1) 3 (33.3) – 9
Consulting Firm 1 2 (15.4) – – 11 (84.6) 13
Consulting Firm 2 5 (55.6) 2 (22.2) 2 (22.2) 9
Consulting Firm 3 3 (23.1) 10 (76.9) 13
NGOs Local NGO 1 2 (16.7) 4 (33.3) 6 (50.0) 12
Local NGO 2 3 (25.0) 9 (75.0) 12
Local NGO 3 1 (6.7) 3 (20.0) 11 (73.3) 15
International NGO 1 11 (57.9) 2 (10.5) 2 (10.5) 4 (21.1) 19
International NGO 2 18 (78.3) 5 (21.7) 23
International NGO 3 2 (20.0) 8 (80.0) 10
Source: Results from field data collected by authors.

that serve about 11 million people. Personnel distribution with regard to job categories for the WRC is
comparable with that of the GWCL. The former also has a greater proportion of their personnel in the
technical category (75%) responsible for developing water resource management strategies. However,
the same cannot be said about CWSA, which has a greater proportion of personnel in the administration
and finance category due to the project management role of the organisation. A relatively lower pro-
portion of its personnel are in the technical and other technical categories providing technical
assistance in the construction of WASH facilities. This is attributed to the fact that the agency hires tech-
nical personnel temporarily for certain projects to augment the personnel available whenever the need
arises. CWSA also has 10.2% of its personnel engaged in hygiene promotion in various rural commu-
nities across the country.
The proportion of technical personnel involved in sanitation design, operation, maintenance and man-
agement in the MMDAs is low (2%). This could partly account for the low sanitation coverage and poor
sanitation service delivery in the country. The Environmental Health and Sanitation Units in the
MMDAs are more involved in health education, health promotion and abatement of nuisance. Conse-
quently, a considerably high proportion (98.1%) of their personnel are found in the social
development job category.
For the private sector, a good proportion of employees in consulting firms and private water operators,
who basically deal with construction of water and sanitation facilities, and operation and maintenance,
respectively, are technical personnel. Altogether, technical and other technical personnel make up more
than half of the total personnel in these two private sector institutions. But this is not the case in the
consulting firms and NGOs, which have a significant proportion of their employees in the administration
and finance and in the social development job categories. The distribution of employees in the consult-
ing firms and NGO institutions demonstrates that those involved in community mobilisation have a low
proportion of technical personnel, while those involved in design, operation, maintenance and manage-
ment of water and sanitation facilities have a high proportion of technical personnel.
510 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519

Estimates based on an average of 16 employees per NGO for a total of 60 NGOs nationwide and 22
employees per private sector organisation for a total of 44 private sector organisations nationwide
(Tables 3 and 4) suggest that more than 8,000 skilled personnel are employed in the WASH sector.
The estimates of total NGOs and private sector organisations were adopted from statistics provided by
the Water and Sanitation Monitoring Platform (2010). Generally, the distribution of the workforce in
the WASH sector indicates that more than half of the workforce (77%) is found in the public sector. Com-
parative analysis of the study results with similar studies conducted in two other sub-Saharan countries
(Mali and Burkina Faso) and two Asian countries (Bangladesh and Timor Leste) is presented in
Table 5. The analysis indicates wide variations in the total estimated workforce in all study areas. For
sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the estimated WASH-related workforce in Burkina Faso is more than twice
that of Ghana, while the latter’s is more than three times that of Mali. Average female proportions in
the Asian countries are generally lower than those recorded in sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, in con-
trast to SSA, which has a predominant proportion of WASH sector employees engaged in the public
sector, the Asian countries generally have a larger proportion of their WASH sector employees in the pri-
vate sector. These results underscore the differences in the distribution of water and sanitation HR from
country to country, even within the same sub-region and from one sub-region to the other.
Sections 3.2 and 3.3 present the supply of HR from training institutions to the WASH sector, and how
the sector job market competes with other sectors.

3.2. HR training and supply from training institutions

Table 6 shows the graduate supply in all WASH-related programmes offered in training institutions in
Ghana. Nine public universities, 10 public polytechnics and about 45 private tertiary institutions provide
training opportunities for potential employees and current employees in the WASH sector. Among these
institutions, the public institutions mainly offer technical programmes. For the purpose of this study, the
programmes offered by these institutions are categorised according to the four job categories
aforementioned.

• Technical programmes comprise civil engineering, water supply and sanitation, water resources
engineering and management, among others.

Table 5. Comparison of study results with other studies.

Distribution of workforce by sub-sector (%)
Estimated workforce Female proportion, range and
Study location in WASH average (%) Public sector Private sector NGOs
This study (Ghana) 8,215 16–44 (22) 77 12 11
Burkina Fasoa 19,751 34–36 (35) 81 8 11
Malib 2,600 18–28 (21) 31 59 10
Bangladeshc 41,000 0–66 (14) 36 47 17
Timor Lested 643 2–18 (8) 36 35 29
a
Adapted from DFID/IWA (2013b).
b
Adapted from DFID/IWA (2013d).
c
Adapted from DFID/IWA (2013a).
d
Adapted from DFID/IWA (2013e).
 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519 511

Table 6. Graduate supply trend in selected WASH-related programmes.

Number of training Number of Average annual graduate output N
Personnel category institutions programmesa (%)
Technical 6 3 220 (7.3)
Other technical 7 11 774 (25.9)
Administration and 3 6 798 (26.7)
finance
Social development 7 13 1,200 (40.1)
Total 23 33 2,992 (100)
Source: Results from field data collected by authors.
a
Programmes common to two or more institutions are considered as one and the outputs summed up. Some training
institutions offer more than one related programme.

• Other technical programmes include mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, biochemistry,

environmental science, planning, etc.
• Administration and finance programmes consist of marketing, business administration, financial man-
agement, commerce, etc.
• Social development programmes comprise social science, community health and development,
environmental health and sanitation, geography and rural development, etc.

The data presented in this study cover a 5-year period (2008–2012).

The average annual output of higher education graduates for the technical programmes is relatively
lower than that for the social development, and the administration and finance programmes
(Table 6). This is mainly because the majority of the tertiary institutions across the country offer
social development, and administration and finance programmes, which are highly patronised, possibly
due to high demand on the labour market. Moreover, the technical programmes are highly competitive
but have low labour market demand, which partly accounts for the low enrolment. Essentially, the
graduates from the technical programmes are expected to be employed by the CWSA, GWCL and
MMDAs as engineers, chemists, technicians, among others. However, with the low graduate output,
this is more likely to bring about a shortage of technical personnel in the WASH sector due to the com-
petitive salaries and working conditions in other sectors. In contrast to the findings of this study,
Kimwaga et al. (2013) reported that HR supply from training institutions for the water and sanitation
sub-sectors in Tanzania is dominated by water and sanitation engineers (technical personnel). This is
attributed to educational policy guidelines that direct higher education institutions to train graduates
in engineering disciplines (Kimwaga et al., 2013).
A higher-education programme in Water Resources and Environmental Sanitation started in 1998
with the support of the Netherlands government at the Department of Civil Engineering to provide
the much-needed research base and capacity building of sector professionals, technicians and policy-
makers in the WASH sector. It has successfully established two master-degree programmes: Water
Supply and Environmental Sanitation, and Water Resources Engineering and Management. By 2010,
these two programmes had trained over 130 professionals.
The training offered at the National Vocational Training Institutes related to water and sanitation,
including pipe-fitting, pump repairs, masonry, and carpentry, among others, can equally be acquired
through informal training from other artisans who are self-employed. Vocational training certificates
512 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519

are required only in the public sector institutions, which constitute an insignificant proportion of the
labour market. For instance, artisans with vocational training are engaged in the urban water supply
sub-sector as pipe-fitters for a new household water connection by GWCL, while all the pipe works
in households prior to the final connection by GWCL are usually undertaken by private pipe-fitters
without certificates. More so, in-house latrine installations in rural and urban areas across the country
are generally carried out by informal artisans without formal vocational training certificates. Conse-
quently, with or without vocational training, artisans can still find jobs in the WASH sector, and
since the employment opportunities that exist are mostly self-employment opportunities, little attention
is focused on vocational training.
To address this issue, formal training and licensing schemes for artisans that incorporate regular train-
ing programmes and issuing of renewable licenses should be considered. This would ensure that artisans
acquire up-to-date information on current best practices and are formally recognised and monitored
within the sector.

3.3. WASH sector capacity building projects

In addition to the formal training offered by the academic institutions, a number of externally funded
water and sanitation projects have contributed to building the capacity of personnel in the sector through
short-term courses, on-the-job training, and coaching, inter alia. The capacity building involves training
in project design, construction, operation and maintenance, and comprises mainly short courses with
little support for research and postgraduate studies. A selected number of externally funded projects
with their specific capacity building aspects are shown in Table 7. Under the Danish International
Development Agency (DANIDA) Community Water and Sanitation Projects, technical employees
were trained as part of the capacity building effort for the sector. These employees currently own
water and sanitation consulting firms.
These externally funded projects train personnel in aspects needed only for project implementation
without considering the long-term needs of the beneficiary organisations or the capacity needs of the
WASH sector as a whole. Consequently, personnel are trained in a disjointed manner in the sector
and within a limited period of time through short courses. Since the projects are over a definite

Table 7. WASH sector capacity building projects.

Project name
DANIDA Community Water and Sanitation
Projects
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Cost Project
The Sustainable Water Management Improves
Tomorrow’s Cities Health (SWITCH)
Urban Environmental Sanitation Project (UESP)
Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW) community
water project
The Water Resources and Environmental
Sanitation Project (WRESP)
Capacity building aspects
Offered training to staff of water projects and Water Directorate under
the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing
Supported postgraduate students in Water Supply and Environmental
Sanitation at the Department of Civil Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Trained sector practitioners in planning for Integrated Urban Water
Management
Training of staff in selected metropolitan Assemblies
Trained environmental health officers at the district level in community
mobilisation
Offered postgraduate training to WASH sector professionals in water
and environmental sanitation
 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519 513

period of time, only short-term capacity needs and challenges are addressed. This characteristic feature
is a major drawback in externally funded WASH projects. Essentially, it would be beneficial to the
WASH sector as a whole if capacity building projects that form part of WASH projects dovetail into
a national WASH capacity building programme that seeks to address the capacity needs of the
WASH sector holistically and for the long term. This would ensure that resources are constantly
pulled together to train personnel in a harmonised manner considering both the short- and long-term
needs of the sector.
Policies to guide capacity development in the sector are thus critical in this regard to ensure that
capacity development in the sector is carried out in line with the holistic capacity needs of the
WASH sector. The success story of the integrated urban management master’s course in Ethiopia,
which is founded on strong political support and response to societal needs, as reported by van Dijk
et al. (2013), could serve as an inspiration to establish a capacity building programme for Ghana’s
WASH sector.

3.4. HR shortage and skills’ gaps

Table 8 shows the shortages in terms of the number of personnel required to fill vacancies. The results
showed that CWSA, as at December 2011, had 29 vacant positions, while GWCL had 224 vacant pos-
itions in 2012. Moreover, the MMDAs require the services of an additional 40 sanitary engineers, 81
environmental health officers and 706 environmental health assistants. These shortages were the
vacant positions to be filled. The determination of the actual number of personnel required to meet
the service coverage requirement of the MDG is the next step, which requires further research into
the human index or proportion required to serve every 10,000 of the population.
The results from key informant interviews showed that among other factors, the challenges of meeting
the HR requirements in the WASH sector are staff attrition, government restriction on employee recruit-
ment, unattractive working conditions in the sector and lack of suitably qualified candidates. There are,
however, no indications of shortage or vacant positions in the private sector and the NGOs. Generally, in
the WASH sector, strategies to attract and retain employees in the public sector include job security,
guaranteed salary, well-defined career progression plan, career advancement opportunities, and oppor-
tunities for on-the-job training. However, public sector employees are more likely to be poached than
those from the private sector due to the relatively higher remuneration and comparatively better working
conditions in the private sector and international NGOs.

Table 8. Level of shortage and skills’ gaps 2011–2012.

Organisation
CWSA (Rural water)
GWCL (Urban water supply
sub-sector)
WRC (Water resources
management)
MMDAs (Sanitation)
Source: Results from field data collected by authors.
Shortage Indications of skills’ gaps/qualifications
29 Most of the personnel at post have the required qualifications for their job
224 Most of the personnel at post have the required qualifications for their job,
engineering skills’ gaps exist
19 All positions have been filled and personnel have the required qualifications to
perform their tasks
827 MMDAs lack capacity for sanitation service delivery. Engineering skills’ gaps
exist. There is the need for upgrading of qualifications, especially in the
engineering category
514 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519

There was no shortage for the administration and finance and for the social development categories.
There were indications of shortages in the technical category, especially sanitary engineers, since there is
no specific training in sanitary engineering. The civil engineers, who could take up jobs as sanitary
engineers, find the MMDAs unattractive and end up in other sectors.
The analysis also shows that HR shortages in the sanitation sub-sector were greater than in the water
sub-sector. There were shortages of mechanical and electrical engineers in urban water supply, and
replacing them was difficult due to the unattractive salary and conditions of service. There was also
a shortage of water distribution engineers (civil engineers) due to poor staff succession planning and
recruitment to replace ageing engineers. The recruitment rate to replace ageing or retired employees
was not synchronous with the rate at which employees retired, resulting in shortages. The study
observed that certain positions were vacant and yet replacement was difficult. For instance, mechanical
and electrical engineers prefer other sectors to the urban water supply sub-sector due to, among other
factors, the unattractive salary and other conditions of service, and civil engineering graduates prefer
other positions with competitive working conditions, as compared to sanitary engineering positions
in the public sector.
The newly employed staff lack skills for the design, operation and maintenance of sanitation and
water supply systems because the graduates with the required skills were not available. In an attempt
to address this issue, the GWCL has a training school where newly recruited personnel, junior and
senior high school graduates, are trained in the areas of pipe-fitting, water production and treatment.
This has contributed to providing a consistent supply of junior-level personnel for the urban water
supply sub-sector.
In terms of sanitation, there are three Schools of Hygiene under the Ministry of Health that offer train-
ing in general environmental health and sanitation as part of their curriculum. Graduates from these
schools are eventually employed as Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) under the MLGRD in the
various MMDAs across the country. These EHOs are mainly responsible for hygiene promotion and
abatement of nuisance, and thus service delivery and design of sanitation systems do not form a key
aspect of their training and hence their daily work. There is, therefore, a huge skills’ gap in the
design and operation of sanitation systems (wastewater treatment plants). This requires urgent attention
to provide personnel with the requisite skills for the design, operation and maintenance of these systems.

3.5. Policies on HR capacity development

Improving access to water and sanitation has featured greatly in national policies and plans over the
past decades. This is epitomised by its inclusion in a number of national policies developed over the
years, viz. Ghana Vision 2020: The First Step (1996–2000), the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy
(GPRS I) (2003–2005), the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) (2006–2009), and cur-
rently the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) (2010–2013). Since 1995, the
formulation of national development strategies in Ghana, as well as monitoring, evaluation and coordi-
nation of development policies, has been the responsibility of the National Development Planning
Commission (NDPC). The commission advises the President of the Republic of Ghana on comprehen-
sive development policies and strategies, and ensures that the development policies of all government
agencies conform to the national development agenda. For the water and sanitation sector, the Ministry
of Water Resources Works and Housing (MWRWH) and the MLGRD develop policies regarding water
and sanitation respectively. Developments in the sector are thus guided by the National Water Policy
 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519 515

(NWP), developed in 2007, and by the Environmental Sanitation Policy (ESP), developed in 1999 and
revised in 2010. Both policies recognise HR development as crucial to the effective delivery of water
and sanitation services. However, ensuring training and retention of an adequate number of sector pro-
fessionals is a huge challenge to the sector as identified by the sector policies. The difficulty in attracting
and retaining certain professionals was confirmed by the organisational survey conducted through this
study.
The NWP, among its objectives, seeks to develop and strengthen HR institutional and operational
capacities. It seeks to achieve this objective through a number of actions, which include supporting
the development of skills related to the various water management functions at all levels; supporting
the review and update of operational guidelines on capacity building to ensure adequate capacities at
all levels; and enhancing engagement of private sector and tertiary institutions in the training of relevant
water sub-sector practitioners. The policy, however, failed to provide a comprehensive road map for the
implementation of the HR capacity building components.
Institutional strengthening and HR capacity development are deemed the foremost priorities for
achieving sustainable services as per the revised ESP. It recognises the lack of adequate professional
manpower as a huge constraint to the sector’s performance. However, unlike the ESP developed in
1999, the revised ESP is reticent on the institution responsible for HR capacity development in the
sector. While the former identified the Human Settlements and Environment Division (HSED) under
the MLGRD as the unit responsible for planning and assisting HR development for the sector, the
latter asserts that ‘in most cases human resources capacity will have to be developed within the insti-
tutions to enable them to meet their responsibilities effectively’. Furthermore, in contrast to the
NWP, the ESP is accompanied by the National Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plan
(NESSAP) and the Strategic Environmental Sanitation Investment Plan (SESIP) to define the implemen-
tation strategies and costs of interventions respectively (Government of Ghana, 2011). The strategies for
HR capacity development, as outlined in the NESSAP, include revision of scheme of service for per-
sonnel; upgrading of Schools of Hygiene to tertiary institutions for training in environmental
sanitation and hygiene; and appointment of qualified professional staff. Although the sanitation sub-
sector has clearly outlined HR development plans with its associated costs, the sector greatly suffers
from a disproportionately low investment as corroborated by the literature (Water, Engineering and
Development Centre (WEDC), 2005; The Ghana Compact, 2010). This is due to low priority and the
weak institutional arrangement for training of sanitation professionals, exemplified by the situation
whereby EHOs are trained by the Ministry of Health, but are employed by the MLGRD.
Despite the absence of a broad national HR development policy and action plan for the water and sani-
tation sector, all sub-sector institutions have their respective scheme of service that spells out the
requirements for career progression within a particular grade (junior, senior, top management), study
leave, and approved short- and long-term courses, among others. This, however, does not exhaustively
address the capacity development issues that confront the sector due to its limited scope and it has partly
contributed to the current predicament of the sector with regard to HR shortages. For example, the personnel
in the junior grades (with diploma certificates) find it difficult to get upgraded to senior grades after they have
undergone self-funded training to acquire their first degree, which is a requirement for senior grades. This is
because the organisations have no policy to implement such upgrading from junior to senior level, even when
the junior personnel have undergone self-funded training to acquire their first degree, due to the fact that the
wage bill will increase. There is also no policy on succession planning to replace the ageing specialised tech-
nical personnel, and workers in junior grades who aspire to be among the senior grades.
516 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519

There is the need to undertake an institution-specific capacity needs assessment to determine the
existing capacity (numbers, qualifications and skills) and the required capacity. The curricula of all
existing training institutions producing employees for the WASH sector would need to be reviewed
to address the needs of the sector in a demand-driven manner. New tailor-made programmes could
be run to train existing personnel in various fields related to the WASH sector. These tailor-made pro-
grammes should be demand-driven and not supply-driven. Intervention programmes often have capacity
building components aimed at closing the capacity gaps. Such programme-specific attempts end up pro-
moting a supply-driven approach whereby beneficiaries never use the knowledge gained for various
reasons when they return to their workplaces. Some employees also participate in the training not
because they actually need it but because the training is supplied and there are some financial benefits
attached to it.

3.6. Policy on gender mainstreaming in Ghana’s WASH sector

According to the MDG Report (2013), empowering women is critical in achieving other MDGs
and also promotes human development. Particularly in the water and sanitation sub-sectors, the cen-
trality of increased participation of women in decision-making cannot be overemphasised. This is
against the background that women always have to bear the brunt of poor water supply and sanitation
services (UN-HABITAT, 2006). Realising the need for the promotion of gender parity and women
empowerment, the Government of Ghana has shown considerable commitment towards achieving
this goal. Gender issues are therefore highlighted in major national development policies and legis-
lation formulated from the 1990s up to the present date, which include the National Gender and
Children Policy (2004). In the water and sanitation sector, gender issues are also featured in the
NWP, the ESP and the NESSAP.
However, there are still questions about how these policy commitments to promoting gender equality
and empowering women can be effectively put into practice. Although both the NWP and the ESP
recognise gender mainstreaming as very crucial to the sector, they do not comprehensively outline strat-
egies for addressing such issues but only aver that it is the mandate of the Ministry of Gender, Children
and Social Protection to do so. Meanwhile, the health sector has a dedicated sector policy to address the
issue of gender parity and women empowerment in the sector, known as the Health Sector Gender
Policy, which was developed in 2009. It is therefore inexcusable for the water and sanitation sector
not to have a policy for gender mainstreaming. Despite the fact that the Ministry of Gender, Children
and Social Protection is legally mandated to formulate gender-specific and child-specific development
policies, the issue of gender mainstreaming must be deemed as an all-encompassing responsibility.
There is an urgent need to develop a gender mainstreaming policy and action plan specifically for
the water and sanitation sector to address the foregoing issues of gender imbalances. This should pro-
mote increased participation of women in decision-making in the sector, commencing with an initial
target of about 30% representation of women at all levels and gradually working to achieve a 50%
representation, especially in water and sanitation where women and children are mostly affected. Fur-
thermore, female participation in water and sanitation-related courses and eventual employment in
the sector should be promoted through the establishment of admission quotas for female students;
through financial aid and mentoring programmes for females in science and engineering-related pro-
grammes both at the pre-tertiary and tertiary levels; and through development of gender-sensitive
employee recruitment policies.
 S. Oduro-Kwarteng et al. / Water Policy 17 (2015) 502–519 517

4. Conclusions

The study points out that Ghana’s WASH sector has a good proportion of its technical personnel
(75%) employed in the public water supply sub-sector. Specifically, the public urban water utility
has the highest proportion of technical expertise in the sector due to the nature of their work: the oper-
ation and maintenance of conventional water treatment systems and water distribution. The sanitation
sub-sector is, in contrast, dominated by social development personnel with only 2% technical person-
nel. Similarly, the majority of the employees in the private sector and NGOs are technical and social
development personnel. Due to the complexity of water systems and the population served by the
urban water utility (GWCL), the urban water supply sub-sector has a disproportionately large
number of technical personnel as compared to the rural and small towns’ water sub-sector. There
is a huge disparity between male and female proportions in the WASH sector, in that females consti-
tute less than a quarter (22%) of the total employees in the sector, based on sampled organisations.
There is a relatively low average annual graduate output for technical programmes involving water
and sanitation (220) as compared to the social development programmes (1,200). The challenges
of meeting the HR requirements in the WASH sector are staff attrition, government restriction on
employee recruitment, unattractive working conditions in the sector and lack of suitably qualified can-
didates. In order to prevent shortages of technical personnel in the future, training of technical
personnel for the WASH sector should be a high priority for the sector, particularly the sanitation
sub-sector. A strong collaboration between the training institutions and employers is critical in
order to provide the requisite manpower for the sector.
Most certainly, if there is any period when a national HR development policy for the WASH sector is
needed, it is now, when the government and donor partners have synergistically made a commitment
towards increasing investment in the sector through the Ghana Compact. Rather than promoting frag-
mented HR development projects, there is a need to carry out a comprehensive training needs
assessment in the sector in the short term and responsively develop a capacity building action and
investment plan that will form the blueprint for systemic long-term staff development in the WASH
sector. This should be done in close consultation with development partners in order that their interven-
tions could be tailored to suit the country’s short- and long-term needs.
There is a need to develop a gender mainstreaming policy and action plan for the water and sanitation
sub-sector, as in the health sector, to address this issue. This should promote female participation in water
and sanitation-related courses and eventually employment in the sector through the establishment of
admission quotas for female students; through financial aid for females in science-related courses both
at the pre-tertiary and tertiary levels; through mentoring programmes for females; and through develop-
ment of gender-sensitive employee recruitment policies. The results from the study are based on sampled
organisations in the WASH sector and therefore cannot be generalised for the whole country.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the International Water Association (IWA) for their technical support and
to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for funding this study. We are also
indebted to a host of key informants in Ghana’s water and sanitation sector who have made immense
contributions to this study.
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Received 13 May 2014; accepted in revised form 21 September 2014. Available online 25 October 2014