An 11- year- old pupil from Dawhenya Methodist ‘B’ Basic School, Maame Akua Ohenewaa Gyimah, was on Sunday adjudged the new Child Sanitation diplomat in Accra.
This is her 2nd attempt as she was a finalist during the first edition of the School Sanitation Solution (Triple S Challenge) in 2019 at the age of nine.
She succeeds Mawadatu Naziru whose mandate officially ends on September 30, 2022.
Maame Gyimah beat the likes of Joel Ahadzi, Dadwen School Complex, Tarkwa; Maria AbubakariWuntarli, Tepa Seventh Adventist JHS and Nathan Otoo Tandoh, Joyful Way School, Mile 7 in a keenly contested competition.
The (Triple S) challenge organised by World Vision Ghana (WVG), a non-profit organisation was in collaboration with Kings Hall Media, Zoomlion Foundation, Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, GAMA Sanitation and Water Project, Ghana Education Service, and Ghana Coalition of NGOs in the Water and Sanitation Sector.
It seeks to encourage children across the country to identify sanitation problems in their communities and help suggest sustainable solutions.
The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resource, Ms Cecilia Dapaah, in a speech read on her behalf said the challenge had achieved its desired impact after its debut in 2019 and had become one of the most important activities in the education sector.
She noted that tremendous impact had been made towards influencing children to become sanitation conscious and agents of change as well as creating solutions to sanitation challenges around them.
She lauded the partners who were championing the cause of involving children in sanitation solutions, and urged other sanitation partners to emulate alternative strategies to improve our sanitation.
“As leaders of tomorrow, children have a role to play in solving the country’s sanitation problem hence the need for the contest.
“For Ghana to become the cleanest country in West Africa, we need all hands on deck. I feel children should not be left out as they too can have practical solutions to our sanitation woes,” he said.
Mr Dicken Thunde, National Director, World Vision Ghana, urged the winners to be agents of change in their schools and communities.
“These children have presented brilliant ideas today, we look forward to helping them implement these ideas in their community,” he said.
Maame Gyimah in an interview with the Ghanaian Times after the event stated that “I am so excited that I won. I plan to focus on rural education to ensure that open defecation there becomes a thing of the past,” she said.
BY BENEDICTA GYIMAAH FOLLEY