Transcription

1

2 11th International Conference on Urban Drainage, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 2008 communities where livelihoods are more vulnerable with virtually all the members of the community suffering because of food insecurity for part of the year. The three poorest regions in Ghana are the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions (see Figure 1) with poverty affecting seven out of ten people in the Northern Region, less than eight out of ten in the Upper West Region and almost nine out of ten in the Upper East Region. A DFID report on Northern Ghana (DFID, 2005) highlights that this part of the country, which lies in the Sahel zone, has not produced key export commodities nor participated much in trading activities compared to the southern regions of the country. Though the Northern Region for example has the largest administrative land mass of any of the regions in the country, the majorit y of its population face chronic food shortages and have inadequate access to potable water and sanitation services. Northern Region Figure 1. Map of Ghana Showing Administrative Regions Poverty is most severe amongst food crop farmers who are for the most part traditional smallscale producers; the majority of whom are women. In addition to normal household duties, women are responsible for typically 55 to 60 per cent of agricultural production, spending several hours in the day transporting water and goods over long distances. Yet they are much less likely than men to receive education or health benefits or have a voice in decisions affec ting their lives. For them, poverty means high numbers of infant deaths, undernourished families, lack of education for children and other deprivations. 2 Affordable Rainwater Harvesting Systems: A Collaborative Research Effort

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10