African Water Facility's 2023 Newsletter - Issue Two
Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems, and human survival. Africa is experiencing a water and sanitation crisis, compounded by climate change, that puts hundreds of millions of lives at risk.
Since 2006, the African Water Facility (AWF) has worked to provide grants and technical assistance that enable African countries to secure investments and implement sustainable water and sanitation projects, thus improving the quality of life across the continent. To date, we have financed projects in 52 African countries, enabling provision of access to safe water supply to 14.1 million people (52% of whom are women) and sanitation services to 9.19 million people.
Motivated by the urgent need for universal access to water and sanitation in Africa, we continue to innovate, mobilise resources, and collaborate with various partners and stakeholders, to accelerate the needed change in water and sanitation on the continent.
Recently, we announced that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – a new and valued partner to us – has committed $3 million to the Facility to support the achievement of our mandate. This significant announcement signals our ever-growing international support and comes in the lead up to our second funding dialogue since inception, which is scheduled to take place in October 2023 in Paris, France. At the event, we aim to secure increased partnerships and commitments for improved access to water and sanitation in Africa.
Africa’s water and sanitation sector requires all hands on deck. Thus, we look forward to engaging leaders from member states, international organisations, and key players in water and sanitation to identify and agree on innovative mechanisms to financing access to water and sanitation, and to ensure that climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience are better integrated for sustainability.
In this edition of our newsletter, I’d like to re-introduce you to the African Water Facility, and to our team who work every day to make an impact in the lives of millions of Africans. Thank you for your continued support to the African Water Facility.
Mtchera Johannes Chirwa
Coordinator, African Water Facility
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