A hub keeps WASH systems in motion : lessons from Ghana

Growing up in rural Ghana, Vida Duti carried water from a stream before school every morning. 

Decades later she sat in the Office of the President in the moment before he signed the Compact, and many things went through Vida Duti’s mind. “This was a momentous occasion. A triumph of systems leadership by many people. Ghana had raised water, sanitation and hygiene to the highest possible political level. I thought back to our early conversations in IRC, when Patrick Moriarty said ‘I want us to move beyond water and sanitation relationships to work with other sectors; beyond the Ministries of Water to work with Heads of State. That is the only way that we’re going to achieve real, lasting change.'

For more than 25 years as a leader in international development, Vida has reshaped public systems, influenced national policy, and built durable coalitions across Ghana and internationally. Her unique expertise lies in organisational change management, high-level political advocacy, and network stewardship. She excels at breaking down institutional silos, bringing discordant political actors to the table, and identifying the exact leverage points where small systemic shifts unlock large-scale, sustainable transformations. 

Her career spans deep structural engagement at every level of governance - from district assemblies to the Office of the President of Ghana, and up to international multilateral alliances. An exceptional networker and systems thinker, Vida brings deep patience and sharp political instinct required to guide complex institutional reforms. 

Experience and Reach 

• 25+ years of systems leadership: proven track record driving structural public sector reform and policy change from district assemblies to the Office of the President.
• Securing high level political commitment: member of the core team that catalysed and designed the Ghana Presidential WASH Compact, aligning state ministries, development partners, and civil society under high-level political commitments.
• Institutional reform: specialist in restructuring public agencies, professionalizing rural water delivery, and transitioning entities into modern, efficient utilities.
• Scaling of districtwide initiatives: secured local government and NGO partnerships to deliver universal water and sanitation services, successfully scaling district-level models into national planning guidelines.
• State and international governance: served on boards of Ghana Water Limited, Community Water and Sanitation Agency, Ghana Water Institute and SafiSana Ghana, and currently serving on global boards such as the Global Water Center (USA).
• National financing strategy: leading teams across government and international partners to build the financial case for essential services, create political commitment, and translate that commitment into plans that governments can deliver
• Change management: directing complex organisational restructuring and network evolution.
• Canadian High Commission, Senior Development Officer (2004–2009): working directly with Parliament and the Office of the President to establish national models for executive decision making and local government accountability
• Recipient of the 2018 OPEC Fund Annual Award for International Development.
• Languages: Sefwi, Asante-Twi, Fante, English, and basic French.

Personal & philanthropic highlights

• Vida used her 2018 OPEC Fund prize money to build vital, life-changing water and sanitation infrastructure for the community health facility and school in Sefwi Bodi, the village where she grew up.

Sára Bori’s work is shaped by an early, lived understanding of how water systems touch everyday life. In the Netherlands, through a grandfather who settled in the 1980s in a town newly carved from the sea, and an aunt who made her home on a boat. In rural Hungary, her family relied on self‑supply, so during her childhood years she had to get drinking water from her grandmother’s piped town connection because the water at home was unsafe to drink. More than 30 years later, she lives in the same region and sees how those self‑supply challenges persist and are now exacerbated by climate change. These stories continue to guide how she understands development, inequality and public systems. 

Sára works at the intersection of knowledge, evidence and influence. As a knowledge management and communications expert, she helps institutions harvest outcomes and lessons as systems evolve, ensuring that learning travels between countries, organisations and levels of decision‑making. A core part of this work is translating complex evidence into high‑quality publications and audiovisual products – through openness to innovation, rigorous editorial processes and publishing to recognised quality standards - so that insights are credible, accessible and fit for purpose. Her attention to detail, combined with strong project management skills, ensures that complex, multi‑stakeholder initiatives are delivered with clarity, coherence and care. 

Over the past decade, Sara has led flagship knowledge and communications initiatives in the water and sanitation sector with global reach. Across her work, she keeps returning to one question: who benefits when systems function – and who pays the price when they don’t? Seeing how access to water creates and reinforces social divides, she consistently interrogates the ultimate goal of generating, sharing and using knowledge: achieving social justice for all. 

A few highlights

• Over 10 years’ experience in global knowledge management, communications and learning for systems change
• Adviser to the Government of the Netherlands on strategic communications for World Water Week (2020–2026) and the UN 2023 Water Conference
• Co‑author of UNICEF’s WASH Knowledge Management Strategy 2022–2025
• Knowledge management lead for All Systems Connect 2023, international symposium, The Hague, the Netherlands
• Communications lead for All Systems Go Africa 2022, supporting national water, sanitation and hygiene systems strengthening across the African continent
• Project manager of annual reports, strategies and organisational annual planning for over eight years
• Keen implementer of outcome harvesting to capture stories of change
• Working languages: English, Dutch, Hungarian