Nurture Nature Foundation, GAMADA and Belgian NGO Selavip partner to end open defecation and transform sanitation for low-income households in the historic Ga Mashie community.
The Ga Mashie community in Accra took a significant step towards improved sanitation on Monday, May 3, 2026, when the Nurture Nature Foundation, in collaboration with the Ga Mashie Development Agency (GAMADA) and with financial backing from Selavip, a Belgian non-governmental organisation, officially launched a project to construct 175 free bio-digester toilet facilities for low-income households in the area.
The ceremony marked not just a symbolic beginning but a project already gathering momentum. Prior to the official launch, three bio-digester toilet facilities had been constructed on a pilot basis and were already fully operational. A media team that visited the beneficiary households confirmed the units were in active use, offering a glimpse of the tangible relief the full roll-out promises to deliver.
Delivering remarks at the launch, Peter Asiedu, Executive Director of the Nurture Nature Foundation, expressed gratitude for the grant secured from Selavip and used the occasion to sound a rallying call to corporate Ghana and benevolent Ghanaians to rally around the cause. “The 175 from Selavip is not enough for the people of Ga Mashie,” he stated, noting that the community’s need far outstrips the current project scope.
We want the beaches to be a tourist attraction centre. We want our communities to be clean and we want to improve good quality health and well-being for all the people of Ga Mashie.
— Peter Asiedu, Executive Director, Nurture Nature Foundation
Mr. Asiedu linked improved sanitation directly to broader environmental and economic ambitions, expressing hope that the project would contribute to cleaner beaches, a reduction in open defecation, and ultimately position Ga Mashie’s coastline as a tourist attraction. He disclosed that as part of the project’s exit strategy, five community members would be trained to handle maintenance and long-term sustainability of the facilities.
Space Clottey, Deputy Executive Director of GAMADA, offered an equally passionate perspective, painting a vivid picture of the daily indignities faced by residents who currently lack in-home toilet facilities. “Sometimes a house of 30 people has no toilet facility whatsoever,” he lamented, adding that young children are often unable to afford even the smallest fee charged at public toilet facilities. He announced that GAMADA intended to scale the project to reach approximately 1,000 households, describing the 175 units as a foundation upon which greater impact would be built.
Carlos Nii Ayaa Mankattah, Assembly Member for the Kinka Electoral Area, popularly known as the Bukom Electoral Area, in the Odododiodio Constituency of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, commended both GAMADA and the Nurture Nature Foundation for bringing the project to Ga Mashie.
He acknowledged that a similar initiative had been implemented through UN-Habitat in the past, making this the second or third such effort in the community. He called on residents to recognise the link between electing development-focused assembly members and the delivery of projects that directly improve livelihoods.
One of the first beneficiaries, Naa Adoley, spoke with evident relief when the media team visited her household to inspect the completed bio-digester unit. She expressed heartfelt gratitude to the organisers and the Belgian financiers for what she described as a genuinely humanitarian act.
She disclosed that the toilet facility had proven to be a particular blessing for elderly members of her household, who previously had to walk long distances to reach public toilet facilities and endure lengthy queues before they could ease themselves.
Naa Adoley also seized the occasion to appeal to the project partners and funders to extend the initiative to additional households across Ga Mashie and beyond, reflecting what is evidently a widespread sentiment in a community long underserved in basic sanitation infrastructure.
The launch of the Ga Mashie bio-digester toilet project represents a convergence of local development leadership, civil society initiative, and international philanthropic commitment.
As organisers work to attract further funding to scale the project beyond its current 175-unit target, the three operational pilot facilities stand as proof of concept — and as a quiet but powerful reminder of what is possible when communities are placed at the centre of development planning.
Project at a Glance
* Initiative: 175 Free Bio-Digester Toilet Facilities
* Implementing Partners: Nurture Nature Foundation & GAMADA
* Funder: Selavip (Belgium-based NGO)
* Location: Ga Mashie Community, Greater Accra
* Launch Date: Monday, May 3, 2026
* Pilot Units Completed: 3 of 175 (all operational at launch)
* Scale-Up Target: Approximately 1,000 households
* Community Maintenance Team: Five trained technicians
By Kingsley Asiedu
Source: News Ghana