The Hunger Project-Ghana has handed over water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities to two basic schools in the Eastern Region, marking World Water Day 2026 with infrastructure that officials say will keep more girls in class and reduce disease risk for hundreds of pupils.
At Osoroase Roman Catholic Basic School in the Atiwa East District, the organisation installed a mechanised borehole connected to an overhead storage tank with a capacity of 2.5 cubic metres and constructed two eight-seater institutional latrine blocks. The facilities include separate toilet units for male and female students and teachers, a male urinal, and a dedicated pad changing room. A similar two-unit eight-seater latrine facility, also fitted with sex-disaggregated toilets and a pad changing room, was handed over at Pechi Municipal Assembly Basic School in Atwemamena in the Abuakwa South Municipality.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Esther Fiscian, Partnerships and Resource Mobilisation Manager at The Hunger Project-Ghana, said the absence of safe toilets and reliable water carries a disproportionate cost for women and girls. “Women and girls pay a high price in their livelihoods and education when they have to rely on unsafe toilets and spend hours each day retrieving water from sources that are miles away,” she said, calling on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to strengthen water and sanitation systems across the country’s schools.
The pad changing rooms at both schools are designed to allow girls to manage menstruation privately without leaving the school compound, addressing a documented driver of absenteeism among female students. The Hunger Project-Ghana said it will complement the new infrastructure with handwashing stations and teacher training on menstrual hygiene management.
In Abuakwa South, Municipal Chief Executive Nana Adu Sarpong Addo-Aikins Annoh commended the organisation’s longstanding partnership with the municipality and reaffirmed local government’s commitment to expanding safe water and sanitation coverage in schools.
The handover ceremonies brought together representatives from the Ghana Health Service, the Ghana Education Service, local government authorities, school leadership, and community members. World Water Day 2026, observed on March 22, carried the theme “Water and Gender.”
