Fidelity Bank supports moves to check cholera outbreak

Daniel Kenu Health Nov - 08 - 2016 , 11:15 2 minutes read

Fidelity Bank in partnership with the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation has launched the first-ever P2P Academy to provide management training and capacity building to enterprises in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector to help prevent cholera in Ghana.

The project is on the theme: ‘’Building sustainable WASH businesses in Ghana; the role of the private sector.’’

Subsequently, the first batch of 30 business operators in the sector begins a non-residential training camp from Monday for a week and would be further guided and coached by professionals for three months to effectively utilise loans advanced to them.

The P2P project has set up a four-million euro revolving fund that provided credit facilities at reduced interest rates to both households and WASH businesses with targeted technical assistance to WASH businesses.

The money is made available by Fidelity Bank to selected non-banking financial institutions for it to be accessed by individuals after they have met specified criteria.

To date, the project has supported over 250 households and 88 WASH enterprises nationwide with GH¢3.6 million loans to finance projects in areas of liquid and solid waste management, water provision and household latrine construction.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr John Alexander Ackon, who launched the maiden academy in Kumasi yesterday, said many Ghanaians had a negative impression that the responsibility of providing sanitation rested on the government, hence the wrong attitude towards it.

The P2P Project Manager of SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Mrs Agatha Quayson, said the P2P Businesses Academy would provide technical assistance for enterprises operating in the WASH sector.

She said it was expected that over 500 people within the WASH sector would benefit from business management training delivered through the academy in addition to on-site coaching and business development support from a network of business development service providers recruited nationwide.