Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Africa and Water Management

There has been progress in improving water management in Africa, but challenges remain. The Global Public Policy Network has produced a paper outlining issues facing Africa in improving water and sanitation and drawing on the outcomes of international process enhancing the work on water and sanitation.

By: Hannah Stoddart, Stakeholder Forum and Wangu Mwangi, ENB

The inclusion of Africa as a ‘thematic issue’ for CSD-16 encourages delegates to consider all the other thematic issues under discussion through the lens of Africa with its unique sustainable development requirements. It also offers the opportunity to consider all the issues that are integral to sustainable development in that region in addition to the thematic clusters and thus provides a platform to address water and sanitation issues. With a review of CSD-13 water and sanitation commitments taking place at CSD-16, the need for coherence between this process and the main discussions on Africa should be a key objective for all water and sanitation stakeholders. This paper draws on the outcomes of a number of important international processes that have raised the profile of water and sanitation in Africa this year, including AfricaSan and the Africa World Water week, with the aim of ensuing coherence between these processes

The Human Development Report of 2006 emphasizes that for sub-Saharan Africa to get on track in meeting the MDGs, connection rates for water will have to rise from 10 million a year in the past decade to 23 million a year in the next decade. In the context of the mounting challenges facing the achievement of water and sanitation commitments in Africa, it is important to take stock of areas of progress, looking at examples of best practice, as well as identifying the obstacles and constraints that require attention.

Progress, Lessons Learned and Best Practice

Despite the remaining challenges, there are positive signs that governments and other stakeholders in Africa are determined to muster political will and sustained, coordinated action to keep on track.

A number of countries have made major strides towards better coordination of their water and sanitation programmes. The benefits of a well-targeted approach can be seen in Senegal, which raised urban water access from 58% to 98% within a decade. Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique have been successful in sector-wide plans linked to Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). Despite having one of the lowest water and sanitation access rates in Africa, Ethiopia in particular has shown impressive leadership in aligning the efforts of all key players - relevant line ministries, major development organizations and donors - to contribute to its Universal Access Plan for 2012.

Across the continent, many multilateral and bilateral donors as well as NGOs are channeling more resources to the water and sanitation sector, and are increasingly partnering to coordinate and scale up their interventions; transboundary cooperation along shared river and lake basins is on the rise; integrated water resource management policies are increasingly being adopted at national and sub-national levels, and democracy is taking hold in more countries, invigorating citizens to demand more of their governments.

However, despite these very positive developments that should serve as a model for advancing water and sanitation provision and IWRM, some obstacles and constraints remain regarding the means of implementation. The GPPN has identified the following issues:

Governance and Capacity Building

There is a growing consensus that the inability of governments in Africa to guarantee basic water and sanitation services is to a great extent attributable to inadequate governance structures and a lack of institutional capacity. Strong and accountable public institutions are required to address these challenges within a broader sustainable development strategy, managing competing interests and ensuring that the needs of the poor are addressed. With improved governance structures and lines of responsibility, shared governance of water resources can be achieved in the context of integrated water resource management plans.

A further governance issue is the need for national government-led, rather than donor-led water and sanitation initiatives. There should be national water and sanitation plans in place, along with an ear-marking of funds for water and sanitation in national budgets as a percentage of GDP. Building capacity on a local government level to manage and channel these funds for water and sanitation is also crucial, so that plans can be translated into action, and institutional roles and responsibilities can be allocated accordingly at a sub-national level.

Finance and Funding

The Africa Water Vision called for US$20 billion a year for 9 key investment areas. In 2002 the Africa Water Task Force identified specific investments that could not be met by local sources and called for half the budget to be met by development partners. Many recent international reports, including the 2003 Camdessus panel, the UN MDG Project, UNDP and WHO have called for doubling or more of commitments of donors to the water and sanitation sector by 2010.

To enhance efficiency of aid, funding mechanisms should require consultative and inclusive planning processes, and factor in assessment of capacity needs at national, sub-national and regional levels. To achieve sanitation targets, funding should be bundled to integrated water, sanitation and hygiene promotion and sanitation marketing activities. An important component in improving aid efficiency is factoring in maintenance costs for equipment and providing training for local maintenance teams. A recent water mapping exercise in Tanzania carried out by the Netherlands Development Organization and Wateraid, revealed that 40% of installed water points are not functional.

IWRM, Water Efficiency and Productivity

Large sections of the continent experience extreme variability of rainfall compared to temperate zones, and are prone to drought due to low levels of internal renewable water resources. Equally, Africa has an abundance of rivers with catchment areas greater than 100,000 km2, but most of these resources cross international boundaries, necessitating agreements on water use and sharing. Africa has only harnessed approx. 4% of its annual renewable water resources for irrigation, water supply and hydropower use, compared to rates of between 70 and 90% in developed countries, which also exacerbates its vulnerability to natural disasters—from extreme drought and heavy flooding.

In the face of these challenges, a focus on integrated water resource management of national and international water resources is critical to ensure sufficient water resources for economic development, while protecting the natural resource base and ensuring that available water resources are distributed equitably among competing interests.

This article represents just a fraction of the many issues at stake for Africa relating to water and sanitation, but a resounding message is that achieving commitments in these areas is integral to the success of the Millennium Development Goals, and indeed imperative for sustainable development and the cluster of issues under discussion at CSD-16. Managing water resources sustainably is key to long-term and equitable economic growth in Africa, and improving access to water and sanitation services is essential for individuals to enjoy their rights as citizens to dignity and development. Whilst there is reason for optimism, and examples of success have been highlighted in this article, there also needs to be sustained dialogue at an intergovernmental level on water and sanitation, sustained pressure from the international community to meet commitments, and sustained emphasis on a national level to implement policies that are for the benefit of all. It has been the intention of the Global Public Policy Network to enhance this process by drawing on the experience from a number of sectors and Major Groups, and it is hoped that this will be reflected in the outcome of the CSD-16 water and sanitation review and the main thematic discussions.

Wangu Mwangi is a writer and editor for Earth Negotiations Bulletin and works as a Communications Coordinator with UNU-MERIT, a research and training centre of the United Nations University. Hannah Stoddart is Policy Co-ordinator at Stakeholder Forum and a member of the Secretariat for the Global Public Policy Network, a joint project of Stakeholder Forum and Stockholm International Water Institute.