A partnership for Water and Sanitation in African Cities
Day / Time Thursday, June 22nd / 16:30 - 18:30
Event Description
UNHABITAT's Water for African Cities programme is the first comprehensive effort to improve water management in African cities. Over the past 6 years, the programme has been working in major African cities to develop capacity to improve management of urban water and sanitation. Following a successful first phase of the program, a forward-looking appraisal called for a reorganised and expanded second phase to build on alliances for effective delivery of the programme components. Working through collaborative teams of implementation partners, strategic partners, financial institutions and development banks, the programme employs a flexible framework for regional cooperation and inter-agency collaboration. Over the years, these partnerships have given rise to many successful practices, which deserve public attention so they may be refined and replicated in other cities around the world. This event is will hear selected partners of the Water for African Cities Programme highlight the lessons learned through these collaborations and demonstrate their effectiveness in mobilising efforts to provide adequate water and sanitation in African cities.
Session Language
English
French
Speakers
Joke Muylwijk, Executive Director, Gender Water Alliance
Fadel Ndaw, Coordinator Long Term Water Project, Senegalese Ministry of Water Affairs
Doris Marealle, Executive Secretary, Tanzania Women Land Access Trust
Host Organization
UN-HABITAT - Water, Sanitation and Infrastructure Branch (WSIB)
Host Organization Description
The highest priority for UN-HABITAT's Water and Sanitation Programme is improving access to safe water and helping provide adequate sanitation to millions of low income urban dwellers and measuring that impact. In 2000, more than 830 million people in Asia Pacific region did not have access to safe drinking water. More than 2 billion lacked sanitation facilities. This problem is even worse in sub-Saharan Africa where in 2000, over 300 million people in Africa did not have access to safe water and over 500 million were without adequate sanitation. Additionally, low-income urban dwellers have to pay high prices for water sometimes up to 50 times the price paid by higher income groups. This problem has been worsened by a high rate of urbanization. Africa has been experiencing the world's most rapid rate of urbanization at nearly 5 per cent per annum.
Website
www.un-urbanwater.net/home.html
Report
Title of Event: Name of Organisation: Date and time of the session: |
A Partnership for Water and Sanitation in African Cities UN-HABITAT, Water, Sanitation and Infrastructure Branch Thursday, June 22 nd, from 16:30-18:30 |
|
|
2. What were the core issues identified in your event as they relate to the theme and sub-themes of WUFIII? The networking event explored the role of partnerships as they relate to thematic session III sub-theme "Achieving the MDGs: Slum Upgrading and Affordable Housing". Partners emphasized mainstreaming gender and issues of the environment, both critical to sustainable development in the WATSAN sector. Incisive lessons were furthermore drawn from the partnerships for training and capacity building, values-based education, and on implementing integrated WATSAN initiatives at the local level with national institutions and NGOs in order to strengthen capacity at that level, essential in the steady context of decentralized service delivery that is occurring throughout much of Africa . |
|
3. What were the main points raised by panellists and participants in relation to these different issues? What new ideas have been generated as a result of the discussion? Following presentation of the various partnerships, participants discussed the challenges of transforming multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder ideals into practice. While conceptually simple, partnerships can render processes operationally complex. Though richer and more sustainable, partnerships can mean slower implementation and frustration, particularly where community beneficiaries are involved. Partnerships can be further complicated by power differentials, as although partners share common goals, they inevitably hold some competing interests as well. Making the most of partnerships requires recognizing these interests and engaging in open communication about them. Transparency and fair sharing of decision making can further strengthen the position of the respective partners. Partnerships are further maximised when the comparative strength of each partner is identified and optimised. Frameworks for interventions therefore require careful crafting to make full potential of each party's strengths; however it must be recognised that not all roles can be defined in advance. While partnerships are formally between organisations, much depends on the commitment of individual actors, and on how the organisations learn to work together. |
|
4. What process steps have been identified in your event that could help turn ideas into operational reality? Following a successful first phase, a forward-looking assessment recommended a second stage build on the strength of its partnerships to improve effectiveness, sustainability and potential for up-scaling. From the experiences of WAC II partnerships shared in this networking sessions, the following key lessons can be highlighted: a) As an intrinsically multi-sectoral domain, watsan should not be a stand alone intervention, but an integral part of a wider response that addresses other critical needs. Partnerships with complementary sector organisations can increase the number of entry points to more effectively address water and sanitation. b) Donor harmonisation, realised through the establishment of the Water and Sanitation Trust Fund (WSTF), must continue to be strengthened. In addition to streamlining funding to priority areas, the WSTF partners are well-positioned to help UN-HABITAT identify further potential synergies and partnerships to increase the efficiency of their interventions. c) Partnerships with local implementing agencies have been particularly successful in creating ownership and anchoring capacity for sustained benefits and must continue to be strengthened. |
|