How to use WashDesk
A short guide for people reporting a problem, and for the WashDesk team working on cases.
For people reporting a problem
What this is for
Report a water, sanitation or hygiene problem to your district office. It takes about 2 minutes. A WashDesk officer follows up with the district team.
Step 1 — Your district and council
Open your district link, choose your area or zonal council, and add your town name if you want. If your council is not listed, choose “Other” and type the place.
Step 2 — What the problem is
Tap Water, Sanitation, Hygiene or Other. Tap a common problem, or type it in your own words. Short and clear is enough.
Step 3 — Who to call
Give the phone number the team should call. Numbers start with +233 — leave out the first 0.
Reporting for someone else
Choose “for someone else” or “for my community”. The team then asks who they should call about it. Your own name stays as the person who sent the report.
Extra details are optional
“Add more details” is never required. You can send the report without opening it.
Your reference number
After you send, you get a number like TAN-2026-000040. Keep it — you need it to check the report later.
Share it on WhatsApp
On the last screen, tap “Send on WhatsApp” or “Copy message”. The message has no names or phone numbers in it.
No network? Nothing is lost
Your answers are saved on the phone as you type. If sending fails, the report waits and sends itself when you have signal again.
Check your report later
Open “Check my report”, type your reference number and the phone number you gave. You will see the current status.
Your privacy
Names and phone numbers are never shown on any public page. Only the WashDesk team can see them.
For the WashDesk and district team
Signing in
Open /team and sign in with the shared team password. There is no public sign-up.
Reading a case
Each card shows the district, area council and town, what the problem is, who reported it, and who to call for follow-up. These two people are not always the same.
Filters
Filter by district, area council, issue, status, source and date range. The list, the exports and the counts all follow your filters.
Quick actions
Assigned, Called and Needs visit each add a dated line to the case history. Resolved does that and marks the case resolved.
Status pipeline
Received, then Forwarded, then Action taken, then Resolved. The date received is stamped automatically, and the date forwarded is stamped the first time a case moves to Forwarded.
Send to the district WhatsApp group
“Copy WhatsApp message” gives a plain summary with no complainant name or number. The district links panel has the reporting link for each district.
Exports
CSV for spreadsheets, PDF for meetings. Both use the filters you have set.
Rules we keep
Never share complainant names or phone numbers outside the team. Nothing can be deleted from the app — cases stay as a record.
Print a one-page guide
Print or share these one-page guides for training.