Community Catalyst: Building a Water Sanitation System for Social Inclusion in Winneba, Ghana

Abstract

Located on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Ghana, West Africa, the city of Winneba boasts one of the important ecological wetlands inscribed on the list of Ramsar Sites. However, Winneba faces daunting environmental, economic and social challenges—e.g. water sanitation crisis, infrastructure deficiency, environmental degradation, gender inequality, and social conflicts—interacting with each other to create a vicious cycle. Based on a collaborative workshop, a “crowd-sourcing” decisionmaking process, on-site fieldworks, and an Interactive Web Map, the project team develops in-depth study of the social context and traditional customs of Winneba. A water sanitation system, also as a network of public spaces that facilitates ecological and social improvement, is proposed. It includes drainage systems, rain gardens, water kiosks, orchards, public biogas toilets, and organic waste collection stations. Combining a three-phase implementation, i.e. establish the concept of public space, create a site through collaborative work, and connect communities, the project team introduces a bottom-up incentive system that encourages local community residents to collaborate and participate in constructing and maintaining the public space system for their communities, so as to improve the wellbeing of the communities and the city. Not just proving a design strategy for a kind of public space or a plan for a network of urban green space system, this project sets an exemplar to long-term sustainable management of water sanitation system through self-government of residents and communities in developing countries.