How SNV Is Transforming Lives in Nandom Through Sanitation and Women’s Enterprise

For years, families in the Nandom Municipality in Ghana’s Upper West Region lived with a daily reality of unsafe sanitation, unreliable water supply and limited economic opportunities. Pregnant women carried buckets of water to health facilities before receiving treatment. Schoolchildren risked encounters with snakes and crocodiles while searching for places to relieve themselves. Many women struggled to earn a stable income.

Today, that story is changing — and changing fast — through the Healthy Future for All Phase II (HF4A II) project, implemented by SNV Ghana with funding from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. The initiative is providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure while equipping women with business skills and financial support to improve their livelihoods.

At Nandom English and Arabic Basic School, the transformation has been dramatic. The school previously had only one dilapidated community toilet, forcing many pupils into open defecation in nearby bushes. Headmistress Ibrahim Aisha recalled the dangers vividly. “The environment is not always conducive. There was even a day a crocodile had to attack an animal there when we were sitting here,” she said. “When it rains, the place gets flooded, and because of that, there are reptiles around.”

The lack of proper sanitation facilities affected girls disproportionately. Without private changing rooms, many female students missed classes during their menstrual periods. “Sometimes if we go home, we don’t come back again because the way to the house is sometimes far,” explained Form Two student Abdullah Khadijah.

In response, SNV Ghana partnered with the Ghana Education Service to construct gender-inclusive sanitation facilities in 26 schools across the municipality. Project Manager Theresa Swanzy Baffoe said the facilities were designed with girls’ needs at the forefront. “For each of the facilities on the girls’ side, we have a changing room to ensure that we have a safe place for our daughters to also change and feel safe in their schools,” she said.

The impact extends well beyond classrooms. At the Piiri Health Centre, which serves about 6,708 residents, expectant mothers had for decades been required to carry their own buckets of water before receiving maternal care. Staff Nurse Ziema Paul Sunkari described the toll this placed on vulnerable patients. “They’re pregnant, and you are adding them another burden,” he said. The lack of water also compromised emergency care for children with high fevers, as health workers sometimes struggled to find enough water for tepid sponging — a simple but essential procedure to reduce body temperature and prevent convulsions.

Following the installation of a solar-powered mechanised water system by SNV Ghana, the facility now enjoys a reliable supply. The system ensures continuous water for sterilising medical instruments and has removed the need for pregnant women to carry heavy containers before receiving treatment. Expectant mothers such as Justina Kaba can now visit the clinic without that added hardship.

Beyond water and sanitation, SNV Ghana is helping women become financially independent through skills training and access to credit. Members of the Kelegang Enye Women Group 1 have established a thriving liquid soap production business after receiving support through a revolving fund. The group first secured a GH₢80,000 loan, followed by another GH₢53,000, which they invested in expanding production.

“Initially, we were saving just two cedis, but now we have increased our savings to 25 cedis with the loan,” said the group’s secretary, Mercy Wange. She added that many women in the group are now able to contribute to household expenses and support their husbands in paying their children’s school fees.

Another beneficiary, Janet Dizaogl, owner of Mama J Enterprise, used a GH₢10,000 loan and the skills acquired through the project to diversify from pito brewing into liquid soap production, soya kebabs and food processing. Her success has enabled her to train more than 60 women in her community, creating new pathways to economic independence that extend the project’s reach far beyond its original scope.

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