Two Districts Benefit From Post Construction Support Workshop

On May 18, 2018 in Akatsi - Two districts in the Volta Region of Ghana, Akatsi North and Akatsi South benefited from a five-day IRC post construction support workshop for area mechanics and local authorities organised by the Akatsi South District Assembly and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA).

The two-fold training sessions of theory and field work touched on community entry, community relations and borehole repair and maintenance with agreed uniform service charges of 80GHS and 150GHS for above ground and below ground repairs respectively. The three-day practical sessions took the team to Afatsagbleve, Agbagblakope and Avukope, all in the Akatsi South district. The participants were taken through the dismantling and assembling of the three types of borehole pumps - Ghana modified Indian Mark II; Afridev and Nira, which are in use in the two districts. A training manual (to-do-guide) developed for the training was presented to the area mechanics as reference materials after the field exercise.

Outlining the objectives of the workshop, Jeremiah Atengdem, IRC Ghana water expert said, “This workshop forms part of IRC-Signe foundation post construction support to the Districts and CWSA to, among others move towards professionalizing the work of Area mechanics and equipping them with the necessary skills to perform their tasks more effectively for improved water service delivery.”

Kirk Kofi Kudozia and Eric Amekoenyo, the respective heads of works department of Akatsi South and North district assemblies recounted that since Akatsi North was curved out as a new district, it has not had its own area mechanics but always relied on Akatsi South for support; and that this training workshop has produced three of the four new area mechanics for the new district. They added that the three other practising mechanics have had refresher modules in the form of peer-training where the home grown area mechanic has been used as the main resource person for the workshop. Their expectation is that the rate of borehole breakdowns in the districts with about a third of the facilities not working at any point in time will be reduced; and that the growing need for more equipped and organised area mechanics to reduce down time and improve service delivery will now be met.

Elated with the workshop, the area mechanics and local authorities gave their overall positive impressions of the training content and components, the mix of theory and practise and the general facilitation of the workshop by the experienced local expert Gabriel Dzakpasu of Life Time Wells.

Sylvester Eyram, CWSA Volta regional principal extension services specialist stated that the workshop was very useful for ensuring sustainability in the delivery of rural water in the two districts. Speaking on behalf the CWSA Volta regional director, Eng. Divine Dugbatey, Mr. Eyram said, “The plan is for the new mechanics to work in teams in the meantime with readily available technical assistance from the senior colleagues and the district assemblies. As next steps, one of the primary issues is the tooling of the area mechanics, which is been worked on. Also, the DAs and CWSA will respectively follow-up with Area Mechanics' maintenance reports and measuring impact of facilities repaired and functionality status."

Adoku Ebenezer Kwaku, a new area mechanic and a participant from Akatsi North stated, "This is my first training and I find the practical aspect really revealing. I am confident that my level of delivery will improve when I return back to my community." Fortson Agbeli of Akatsi South and a practising area mechanic stated, "This is my forth workshop as area mechanic and in fact, this was different and more comprehensive touching on very relevant areas of the work and charges - I'll will be more focus and professional with this new knowledge"

Jeremiah Atengdem of IRC Ghana on behalf of IRC Ghana country director, Vida Duti recalled the signed memorandum of understanding between IRC and the local authorities under the Signe post construction support detailing out the role of each partner. He stated that the workshop agreed to the zoning of the two districts using the borehole database and assigning area mechanics for coordinated outcomes. He appealed for the agreed area mechanic charges to be documented and progress reporting taken seriously to inform future refresher courses and other decisions.

The workshop brought together twenty participants comprising four trainee and three practising area mechanics; staff of Akatsi North and South District Assemblies, CWSA and IRC.