Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Julius Debrah recently led a trade mission from Ghana to The Netherlands to strengthen business ties between Dutch and Ghanaian parties in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) area as part of the Ghana – Netherlands WASH Programme (GNWP).

The GNWP is a collaborative programme between the Governments of Ghana and the Netherlands aimed at improving and increasing access to drinking water and sanitation services in urban areas, including schools.

The budget for the programme is €180m, which would run from 2012 to 2020.

Some selected metropolitan and municipal assemblies are benefitting from the initiative.

The delegation comprises actors in the sanitation business, Metropolitan and Municipal Chief Executives from Tamale, Tema, Ga West, Kpando and Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, whose areas would benefit from the programme.

The GNWP is focusing on providing sustainable and innovative solutions to the challenging water and sanitation problems in Ghana by significantly using the private sector.

An amount of €30m has been allocated for a Public Private Partnership facility called the Ghana WASH Window (GWW) to motivate private sector involvement.

The trade mission, while in the Netherlands, would seek for potential private sector firms and NGOs that can partner Ghanaian counterparts for the third GWW call for proposals.

The third call opens this month and will close by the end of January 2015.

The objective of the GWW third call is to provide innovate solutions in the field ofsanitation and hygiene, improved waste management both solid and liquid waste, access to and use of safe drinking water and urban water management.

“The GWW serves as a catalyst for private sector/non-Governmental organizations in Ghana to forge partnerships with the private sector in the Netherlands through Match Making to come up with innovative and sustainable proposals to be considered for funding,” Mr Debrah told journalists at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.

The GWW is currently funding five projects in the country.

Participating Ghanaian companies and organisations have been selected by the Netherlands Embassy in Accra and the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP).