WASH news Africa

On 26 May 2008, Mrs LB Hendricks, Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, officially launched South Africa’s National Sanitation & Hygiene Week 2008. The minister called on senior national and local government officials at the gathering to help further develop the draft national action plan for sanitation, as agreed at AfricaSan 2008 in February.

Mrs Hendriks mentioned that Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), in collaboration with the South African Local Government Association - SALGA and others had developed and a ‘sanitation tool’ to inform people about sanitation our policies and legislation. This tool was recently updated and is being rolled out to provinces and municipalities. One area that still required more work, Hendriks said, was on the Free Basic Sanitation policy.

The minister called for the sanitation budget within Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) to be “ring-fenced” so that sanitation could receive the priority it needed.

The objective of the Sanitation and Hygiene Week is to raise the profile of sanitation and encourage the municipalities and the communities to prioritise sanitation, health and hygiene. The theme for 2008 is “Sanitation for Health and Dignity”. DWAF has published a list of related events, documents and promotional materials on its web site.

Read the Minister’s full speech here.

The First African Water Week (AWW-1), hosted by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the theme of ‘Accelerating Water Security for the Socio Economic Development of Africa’, took place from 26-28 March 2008 in Tunis, Tunisia. The meeting’s three objectives were to provide a forum for key actors in Africa’s water sector to discuss the opportunities and challenges of achieving water security for Africa’s socioeconomic development, take stock of the status of the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and related targets on water in Africa, and make recommendations for consideration by the 2008 African Union (AU) and G8 summits, and the 2009 Fifth World Water Forum (WWF-5).

Over 540 participants, including 30 ministers, met in plenary and several parallel working groups to deliberate on a diversity of topics ranging from policy and practical constraints, to social, economic and cultural constraints, and institutional and financial matters.

The Summary of Proceedings and Outcomes‘, which highlights the issues and recommendations made in plenary and working groups, and the ‘Ministerial Declaration on Accelerating Water Security for Africa’s Socioeconomic Development‘ that reflects the specific commitments that ministers’ would act on. In addition, WWF-5 launched its regional preparatory process.

Read the full summary report in the AWW-1 Bulletin prepared by IISD

Daily web coverage by IISD is available here

During the AWW-1 the media reported that the AfDB “intends to raise about US$ 4.5 billion to take the number of Africans having access to drinking water from the current 46 per cent to 66 per cent in 2010″ (PANA / Afriquenligne, 28 Mar 200 and that the “African Water Facility (AWF) needs US$ 200 million to finance its activities for the period 2008-2010″ (PANA / Afriquenligne, 27 Mar 200

Maputo, Mozambique – April 3, 2008 – The World Bank, acting as an administrator for the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), today signed a grant agreement with Mozambique’s Water Supply Assets and Investment Fund (FIPAG) for US$6 million to increase piped-water access for poor households living in five cities: Beira, Maputo, Nampula, Pemba, and Quelimane.

Under this grant, private service providers operating under lease contracts from FIPAG will connect an estimated 468,000 poor people to piped water supply through approximately 29,000 new yard taps; each is expected to serve around three households.

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Traditionally in Mozambique, household and yard tap connections have only been available to those who can afford to pay the connection costs (between US$167 and US$241). Currently, these costs are wholly funded by users and are not recovered through the water tariffs. The US$6 million in GPOBA subsidies, together with user contributions in the form of guarantee deposits, will pay for the final connections. The user contribution for each connection will be on average less than 10 percent of the actual connection cost.

Read more: World Bank, 4 Apr 2008