Upgraded BaSIS to give comprehensive action on sanitation

Mr Peter Pariki-Kwashie, Volta Regional Community-led Sanitation(CLTS) focal person, said the upgraded Basic Sanitation Information System (BaSIS), has helped to eliminate inconsistencies in the report of sanitation activities in the communities.

BaSIS is an electronic tool that provides information about sanitation activities in rural communities.

He explained that previously one household in the community captured in the system had varied information but now Global Positioning System(GPS) enabled the information uploaded to be traced to the website and eliminates inconsistencies to provide an authentic source of information.

He said previously, BaSIS only captured households in the community but due to the upgraded version, all facilities such as schools and hospitals in the communities were captured to know the sanitation situations in all these facilities.

Mr Pariki-Kwashie, in a meeting, presented the upgraded BaSIS to the core Regional Interagency Coordinating Committee on Sanitation (RICCS) in Ho.

He said BaSIS had two components, the website and mobile phone application.

He explained that the website had an interactive mapping and visualisation capacities that informs users of the comprehensive report on sanitation interventions like the number of toilet facilities completed in a household.

He said, “the mobile application was for the field workers to upload information about household sanitation at the District level and subsequently would be uploaded to the website.”

Mr Pariki-Kwashie said that the upgraded BaSIS had been piloted in two districts, Akatsi South and Kadjebi with satisfactory outcomes.

Mr Andrew Kofi Appoh, a member of the core RICCS, commended the upgrade of BaSIS and suggested that the traditional leaders should address the challenges of uncompleted toilet facilities in the households in the District Assemblies.

He said the collaboration between traditional leaders and Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCE’s) would help clear the backlogs that would eliminate open defecation in the community.