Unilever gives UNICEF €98,000 to improve sanitation in Ghana

Mr. Andrew Quayson, Chairman of Unilever Foundation,  on Wednesday handed over a cheque for €98,000 to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to improve hygiene and sanitation in the Central, Volta, Upper East, Upper West and the Northern regions of Ghana.

At a symbolic ceremony to hand over the cheque to UNICEF, in Accra, Mr. Quayson said Unilever Foundation was committed to supporting Ghana to achieve the Millennium Development Goal Seven which focuses on environmental sustainability by halving the number of Africans who do not have good sanitation.

He said some Ghanaians do not have toilet facilities in their homes hence they defecate openly.

Unilever Foundation therefore aims to provide 54 per cent of such Ghanaians with access to toilet facilities by 2015.

“Unilever Foundation is looking forward to a good working relationship with UNICEF to achieve this goal,” Mr Quayson said.

Dr. Iyabode Olusanmi, the Country Representative of UNICEF who received the cheque, thanked Unilever Foundation for embracing Corporate Social Investment (CSI) initiatives in support of children’s rights and well being.

She pledged to work to deliver results and prayed other corporate organisations to follow emulate the gesture by Unilever.

Mr. Othniel Habila, a Representative of Water, Sanitation And Hygiene (WASH), said Unilever and UNICEF were partnering to improve sanitation in developing countries.

They will do this by triggering community members to a point of self-realization where they would have the need to demand for toilets in their communities as well as creating behavioural change in them to stop open defecation out of a sense of responsibility and concern for both oneself and the community.

Source: GNA