The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GAMA-SWP) has in collaboration with the World Bank’s Collaboration Leadership for Development (CL4D), set up a Rapid Response Initiative (RRI) to enhance project implementation.

The RRI, which was launched at a workshop at the weekend, in Senchi in the Eastern Region, presents a rapid results approach that would leverage short-term initiatives to make progress on long-term goals.

The workshop was attended by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), MLGRD Project Coordinating Council, Metropolitan and Municipal Assembly decision makers, and the Ghana Water Company Limited.

The RRI is embedded in the GAMA-SWP to help promote attitudinal change in relation to sanitation in the area.

Mr Emmanuel Agyapong, Deputy Minister, MLGRD, expressed appreciation to the World Bank and project stakeholders for the support, and urged stakeholders to work diligently to achieve the common goal of improving sanitation and water in the area.

The 100-day initiative would provide implementation teams with rapid results coaches and a step-by-step process on how to make change happen in an organic and disciplined way.

The CL4D would help senior authorities to create the right context for change and help them identify a viable challenge to make the process move on.

Also, the teams would be helped to identify the right individuals for a RRI team and support teams throughout implementation.

The initiative would engage stakeholders who would work differently to unblock project implementation challenges and accelerate the project towards development results.

The first phase of the project is from June 2015 to September 2015 and would involve intense work deliverables from participating MMA’s who would be closely monitored and guided by a trained RRI coach.

The Rapid response approach has proved fruitful in the water supply sector where the Kpong Water Expansion Project has added 40 million gallons of water daily to its output capacity, including other projects in the country.