Pro-Poor Connection Subsidies to Improve Water Access in Ghana

In the Accra metropolitan area of Ghana, fewer than 30 percent of households in low-income urban and peri-urban settlements have access to piped water services, well below the government’s stated aim for 70 percent of urban/peri-urban households to have access to piped water by 2030. Some of the main challenges with supplying water to low-income urban and peri-urban settlements include inadequate policy and legislative frameworks and unaffordable lump sum connection fees.

To address these equity and inclusion challenges, USAID’s URBAN WASH Activity is partnering with Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to understand, document, and disseminate lessons from the utility’s recent water connection subsidy projects in Accra. This inception report, summarizes existing literature on pro-poor water subsidies, describes Ghana’s pro-poor water delivery policies and approaches, and outlines URBAN WASH’s research and learning approach. Lessons from this research will be used to inform future iterations of GWCL’s pro-poor programs, and potentially help other countries to learn from GWCL’s experience.