School of Life

Vida Duti at OPEC Fund headquarters for the award ceremony. 

As published in the 02/2020 issue of the OPEC Fund Quarterly.

The OPEC Fund’s 2019 Annual Award for Development winner Vida Duti continues to made good her promise to give back to her community with two of her most recent projects – bringing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to a health care facility and school in Sefwi Bodi, Ghana, where she herself grew up.

Duti, Country Director for IRC Ghana (see boxout), recently help launch WASH facilities at the Bishop Anglionby Memorial Clinic during a small ceremony comprising board members and staff of the clinic, as well as some of the local community.

At the launch ceremony, Duti said this initial intervention was critical, as access to WASH was essential to provide quality health care and was vital for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity.    

Duti outlined the planned project works, which include construction of a borehole system with an overhead tank and water points, and the installation of toilet and hand-washing facilities. She said the project’s goal was to reduce water-related illness and  provide sustainable, safe water sanitation to around 10,000 people in Sefi Bodi and its catchment communities. 

The latest project will help address the critical need of WASH services at the clinic, which more than 10,000 people depend on for meeting their basic health needs. 

At the ceremony, Duti said: “On receiving the 2019 OPEC Fund Annual Award, I dedicated it to the people of Ghana for whose quest I gained the recognition. I assured the Ministerial Council and management of the OPEC Fund of my resolve to work harder toward improving the quality of life for people in the developing world, especially Ghana. This project is in response to this assurance and in fulfilment of my long-standing desire to support and give back to my community.”

Bringing WASH and motivation to schoolchildren

The IRC

The IRC is an international non-profit organization with six focus countries – Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India and Uganda – that supports networks of governments, NGOs, entrepreneurs and users of services at district, national and global level. Through its hub of partnerships, IRC also works in more than 20 other countries. The IRC’s mandate is as follows:

We want every household, school, health care facility, workplace and public place in the world to have access to safe and reliable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services by 2030.”  

Learn more about the IRC 

OPEC Fund 2019 Annual Award

Duti had expressed her resolve at the OPEC Fund 2019 Annual Award for Development ceremony, held at the OPEC Fund’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria.  She said she would stay committed to helping improve the quality of life for people in the developing world – especially those in her home country, Ghana. 

The award, which comes with a prize of US$100,000, was conferred on Duti in recognition of her dedication to providing underserved communities with safe water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH). 

See also the Water, health and gender equality article published in the 2019/4 issue of the OPEC Fund Quarterly.