1. Analysis of factors influencing implementation of municipal regulation requiring landlords to provide acceptable sanitation for tenants (Ghana) – Dec 2016 – July 2017. Funding: Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)

The aim of this study is to identify ways of “unblocking” the current non-enforcement of existing municipal regulations (byelaws) requiring landlords to provide acceptable sanitation facilities for tenants, and thus to increase market demand for sanitation services and to improve the quality of sanitation among residents of LIUC in Ghana. The scope of work involves assessing the enablers and barriers of improved enforcement which cover: 1) sector policy and byelaws; 2) institutional arrangements (decentralisation, sector coordination, service delivery arrangements, regulation and accountability); 3) social norms on rent seeking, corruption and perceptions of unfairness in the prosecution of landlords; 4) planning, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms; 5) sector budgeting and financing; 6) resources and capacity or process efficiency within the municipality; and 7) political will (e.g. political concerns for votes, rent seeking).

2. Evaluation of UNHCR Waste-to-Value Sanitation Project (Dec 2016 – Sept 2017). Funding: UNHCR

The overarching objective of this operational research is to evaluate the suitability of the Waste-To-Value sanitation solutions to the protracted refugee camp contexts found in East Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia). The resulting impact is improved sanitation coverage and the promotion of improved health among the refugees at the camps. Three WTV sanitation technologies will be evaluated and they cover:

  1. Urine-diversion desiccating toilets to soil conditioner or solid fuel briquettes (Oxfam);
  2. Tiger worm toilets to a small volume of ‘tea’-like compost (Oxfam);
  3. Urine-diversion desiccating toilets (‘containerised’) to solid fuel briquettes (Sanivation).

Three main research questions would also be answered in this evaluation:

  1. Are the technologies feasible or appropriate for the various site conditions (flooding, high water table, hardpan terrain, etc.) in the protracted refugee sites?
  2. How can they be optimised in performance?
  3. What factors could affect the performance of the toilets?

3. HIF Emergency WASH (faecal sludge) Accelerated Innovation project (Sept 2015 – Aug. 2016). Funding: Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF)

A sanitation research project aimed at assessing the potential of modern biotechnology to deliver effective bio-additives which can accelerate decomposition processes and extend the lifetime of pit latrines for urban emergencies. Project funded by the Humanitarian Innovation Fund and ELRHA (partners Oxfam, WASTE, Save the Children and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), and undertaken in four countries (Kenya, Malawi, Ghana and South Africa).

4. Evaluation of public latrine block (PLBs) operators to ensure improved service delivery in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Ghana. Funding: Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)

Four main activities were undertaken in this project. Task 1: Training of Environmental Health officers and other staff on the existing evaluation tools for Public Toilet evaluation, verification and incentivization. Task 2: Facilitate Monitoring & Evaluation – this included supervision of the evaluation exercise, support to the trained staff to collate evaluation data from the EHOs and subsequently coaching on data entry and analysis, and project reporting. Task 3: Refresher Training for PLBs – this covered materials development and facilitation of a series of refresher training sessions for all PLB owners and managers within the nine sub metros in KMA based on the MLGRD’s 2003 Guidelines for the provision and maintenance of public toilets. Task 4: Develop a system of incentives to reward best PLBs – this covered guidance to the trainees to select best PLBs in each of the nine sub metros and the overall best PLB.

5. Process evaluation of the National Sanitation and Hygiene Campaign for the government of Tanzania. Project funded by DFID, UK (2013 – 2015). Funding: DFID

NHance staff was involved in this assignment and worked in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The main aim of Phase I (2011 – 2015) of the National Sanitation Campaign (NSC) was to improve rural households with adequate water and sanitation facilities, using a combination of CLTS, social marketing and behaviour change communication, as well as providing schools with appropriate WASH conditions. Furthermore, the evaluation aimed to assess the enabling environment and the level of unit costs spent to identify potential strategies or steps that have been or could be taken to increase the programme’s efficiency and effectiveness.

6. Development of a Business Model for Cesspit Emptying In Kumasi, Ghana (March – June, 2016). Clean Team/Funding: Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)

This assignment was carried out by NDP for Clean Team Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Water and Sanitation for Urban Poor (WSUP), UK. The overall objective of this consultancy was to develop a sustainable and profitable business model for cesspit emptying in Kumasi for Clean Team Ghana Limited. The major output of this assignment was a comprehensive report that covered the following: overview of the desludging industry in Kumasi, Market size – Emptying frequency for households and institutions and selection of service providers, policy regulations governing the business, and equipment and manpower needed to run the business. The rest were revenue potential, required tariffs and expected profitability levels, operations and maintenance cost required, and market drivers and expected constraints, as well as opportunities and risks involved.

7. Design and Supervision of ten valley bottom irrigation schemes project for MOFA (2008 – 2009)

NHance consultant was involved in this assignment and designed and supervised ten valley bottom irrigation schemes project for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Ghana. In addition, he was the key consultant who conducted the feasibility studies of the schemes, designed the dam headwork, canals, laterals, drainage and irrigation layout of the schemes, prepared design reports and construction drawings and also supervised the construction of the eleven irrigation schemes.

8. Evaluation of Water Tanker Service Operations in Accra (2008 to 2009)

NHance Department Partners Limited was involved in this evaluation which sought to among other things to evaluate the impact of the project – Water Tanker Service Operations for the period of March, 2008 to March, 2009. The evaluation focused on effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and likely impacts of AVRL’s interference in the project areas (Osu, La, Teshie-Zongo, Adenta-Ashalley Botwe, Dome-Taifa and Kwabenya, Dodowa).

9. Wastewater use in urban agriculture: an exposure and risk assessment in Accra, Ghana (2011 – 2015). Funding: SHARE Consortium/DFID

Key components of this study included a farm to fork risk assessment of wastewater use in urban agriculture, a faecal exposure assessment of wastewater farm workers, risk perceptions of wastewater use for urban agriculture, and a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) of waterborne diseases to consumers of salad produce irrigated with wastewater.

10. Development of Technology Assessment Framework for water and sanitation technologies (2011)

In 2011, NHance staff were involved in data collection and analysis on water and sanitation technologies across Ghana for EU-funded project; WASHTech Project. This informed the development of a Technology Assessment Framework (TAF) used to assess water and sanitation technologies.

11. Consultancy services for the development of acceptable technical options for the disposal of human waste, training of latrine artisans and establishment of 19 Sanitation Markets in Ghana (2007 – 2008). Funding: CWSA/EU project.

The main objective of the project was to build the capacity of Latrine artisans, Environmental Health officers, and community management groups from 10 districts in the Greater Accra, Central and Eastern regions of Ghana in the construction, and operation and management of various low-cost technology options and a Sanitation market office. The project also aimed at sharpening the entrepreneurship skills of the trainees and to equip them with the requisite marketing tools to promote latrine demand, use and construction through social marketing and behaviour change concepts. The assignment involved the development of a range of marketing and promotion materials including handouts, posters and leaflets for Latrine artisan training, and operation and management handout for the sanitation market.

12. Quantifying the cost of sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services in Sierra Leone (2013 – 2014)

NHance staff was actively involved in this assignment and worked in collaboration with the implementing agency Civil Engineering Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. This project was replication of the WASHCost Ghana project. The project focused on assessing the delivery of sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in selected districts of Sierra Leone. This project unlike the premier one in Ghana used the sanitation and hygiene services ladder developed under the Life Cycle Cost Approach (LCCA) of the WASHCost Project to evaluate or assess the hygiene intervention specifically CLTS in Sierra Leone. Thus, the project measured the cost-effectiveness of sanitation and hygiene interventions – most prominently Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) interventions. The four districts that were covered by the project in Sierra Leone were Bo, Kambia, Kenema and Port Loko. The project also provided capacity building for the WASH sector professionals (public and private sector personnel) in LCCA, WASHCost concepts and methodologies and decentralised or local government monitoring of WASH services using mobile phone surveys.