The Challenges of Sustaining Open Defecation Free (ODF) Communities in Rural Ghana

In 2019, USAID’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) project surveyed all households in 109 ODF-certified communities in the northern districts of Tatale and Kpandai in Ghana—5,615 households total. These communities were certified ODF 3-32 months prior to the survey, following a joint community-led total sanitation intervention by the Government of Ghana and UNICEF. Findings from this survey provide a comprehensive picture of the challenges to sustaining ODF status in Northern Ghana. A technical brief and a policy brief were developed as a result of the findings.