Moshie Zongo is a low-income suburb in Kumasi, Ghana with a population of 22,403 inhabitants. Most of them have limited access to private toilets in their households. Public toilets are expensive and not open 24 hours a day. Open defecation poses a health risk and damages human dignity, specially for women and young girls. Recognizing the gravity of this issue, the Mayor of Kumasi took a stand and decided to take action. Discover what the city is doing to address this challenging problem.
In Kumasi, 50% of its 1.2 million population lacks access to private toilets, with 82.7% of households in Moshie Zongo facing the same challenge.
To address this, the city is implementing a sustainable financing scheme to help residents build affordable, hygienic toilets in their homes. The program offers interest-free loans that can be repaid within 12 months, creating a revolving fund that supports future loans for other residents.
Additionally, the initiative includes training local youth to construct locally-designed toilets, providing both infrastructure improvements and employment opportunities for the community.
The municipality is setting up a revolving fund to help residents to build toilets in their homes.
Private toilets are safer and accessible to community members at any time
Unemployed youths receive training skills to build the toilets, creating livelihood opportunities
A clean and hygienic facility minimizes health risks
Residents are able to afford the cost of building toilets in their homes
To address the challenge of securing loans, community leaders have acted as guarantors for the residents. As of September 2024, this initiative has led to the construction of 84 toilet cubicles, benefitting over 340 households and around 1,200 people in total.
The Kumasi Sanitation Solutions project is training youth artisans in the construction of cost-efficient, environmentally-friendly biodigester toilets. A total of 90 young men and women were selected to undergo training, and 45 graduates have acquired the skills to build these sustainable toilet systems, creating a future workforce for the local construction industry.
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In September 2025, UNDP released a new publication titled “Innovative solutions for sanitation and employment: a case study on the city of Kumasi, Ghana”, documenting an innovative initiative to address sanitation challenges and promote local employment through sustainable financing and community engagement.
This publication showcases the initiative led by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, implemented with UNDP support between 2022 and 2025 in the framework of the 2022 Global Mayors Challenge.
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