TripleS Challenge: Timtoni Wumbei of Tamale crowned 2024 Child Sanitation Diplomat

A student of the Grace Holy Child Academy located in the Tamale Metropolis in the Northern Region, Abdul Yazid Faraj Timtoni Wumbei has been crowned the 2024 Sanitation Diplomat in Accra.

Master Timtoni Wumbei, beat three other contestants (all females) to win the coveted prize.

For his reward he received, a laptop computer, cash prize, certificate of honor, plaque, and other souvenirs.

In addition, the World Vision Ghana and its partners, initiators and organizers of the School Sanitation Solutions Challenge (TripleS) will give Master Timtoni Wumbei, financial and logistical support to undertake a one year project on environmental sanitation.

Master Timtoni Wumbei, break the jinx to become the first male to be crowned Child Sanitation Diplomat in the history of the TripleS competition where all four finalists in each of the four editions were females.

Master Timtoni Wumbei, garnered 54 points at the end of three sets of rounds of questions to beat his closest contender, Miss Esi Abakah Owusu of the University Junior High School (JHS), located in Cape Coast in the Central region who pulled 53 points to emerged the first Runner Up.

Miss Candy Nana Adwoa Okwan of the Achimota Basic School, Accra in the Greater Accra region scored 41.5 points to emerged as the second runner up, while Miss Christiana Sefakor Sedenkor only managed to score 38.5 points to become third runner up.

About the TripleS competition

The TripleS challenge is an annual competition organized by the World Vision Ghana (WVG), in collaboration with the King Hall Media Limited, Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Sanitation as well as GAMA SWP and the Zoomlion Foundation since 2020 for pupils of basic schools from primary six to JHS two on sanitation seek influence children to become sanitation conscious and agents of change as well as to create advocacy, awareness and behavioral change to improve sanitation solutions.

The fifth edition of the Triple-S challenge which was launched on May 22, 2024 started with the publication of the invitation for entries in the national daily’s.

At closed of entry, over a thousand students sent in their entires from all over the country.

The country was zoned into four ie the Shea, Coconut, Cocoa, and Tilapia.

The Shea zone consist of schools in Northern, Savannah, North East, Upper West and East regions.

The Coconut Zone includes schools from Central, Western, Western North regions.

The Cocoa Zone consists of Ashanti, Eastern, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions. While the Tilapia zone has schools in the Greater Accra, Volta and Oti regions.

The entires or contestants were prone down to 20 for the Masters Encounter. Five selected participants competed at the Masters level and one winner from each zone went into the grand finale dubbed “Battle of Champions”

The students were challenged to give their ideas on the question, “If you were to participate in the Parliamentary or Presidential position, how would you prioritise sanitation and why.”

The National Director of WVG, Laura Cristina Del Valle, delivering her welcome address reaffirmed her outfit’s commitment to partner  relevant bodies in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector to promote improved and sustainable sanitation for children and families.

“We at WVG believe that there is a lot more the government, development partners, and all of us can do to ensure sustainable access to improved WASH services. This is especially possible if we work together in the spirit of collaboration and cooperation,” she added

According to the National Director of WVG, lack of access to safe water and toilet facilities in schools is not only regrettable but also very worrying, especially when many of the toilets in schools do not have changing rooms for adolescents girls.

She said the situation does not make the school environment conducive or friendly to the girl child, particularly those who have reached the age of puberty.

In a speech read out on his behalf, the Minister of Sanitation, Water Resources, Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan acknowledged the innovative ideas and dedication shown by the students towards tackling sanitation problems both at home and schools.

“Our young ones have highlighted key solutions which will help shape a healthier and more sustainable Ghana tomorrow. Indeed, you are the future leaders of this country.

Let us all not forget that sanitation is a shared responsibility, and we all have a role to play so as we have gathered here to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our young minds, there is the need to also reflect on the important role sanitation plays in the overall health and development of our communities,” she said

 According to the Sanitation Minister, it is an undeniable fact to say that sanitation is an important foundation for  health, dignity, and well-being of our people. Saying poor sanitation does not only affect the environment but also affects our education systems in a sense that young adolescent girls during their cycles absent themselves from school because the conditions of the school washrooms are not gender friendly.

Poor sanitation she noted impacts on our economic growth, especially in cases where women and ladies are ambushed, abused and lose their dignity because of looking for an obscured place to defecate.  

“It is therefore vital that we continuously engage in our efforts to raise awareness and develop practical solutions to these issues. This competition has become a powerful platform for empowering the youth to actively participate in the decision making process.

 Ladies and Gentlemen, one of the key responsibilities as a nation is to ensure that every child grows up in a clean and safe environment.

This is why I am happy to inform you that the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources has put the issue of system strengthening in ensuring that every community—urban or rural, has access to clean water and proper sanitation facilities under its Sanitation and Water Projects, which have been implemented in Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Areas in the last few years.

These projects brought on stream several state of the art, disability friendly and girl child centered toilet facilities to schools, and I am reliably informed that over 437 such facilities were constructed, benefiting over 400,000 school children in basic schools in the 2 Metropolitan Areas,” Madam Seyram Alhassan indicated.

By: Kwadwo BUABENG