The African Water Facility is Operational
By Stephen Maxwell Donkor, Coordinator, UN Water/Africa.
In the past three years, there has been a concerted effort to
develop policies and programmes and accelerate investment in all
aspects of water resource management and development in Africa.
The Second World Water Forum held in The Hague in 2000 was instrumental
in establishing and giving support to the African Water Vision
for 2025. The Vision set out targets and goals for improving access
to water and water resource management.
In April 2002 the African Water Task Force (AWTF) with the support
of the African Development Bank organized a pre-WSSD Stakeholders
Conference on Water and Sustainable Development in Accra, Ghana.
One of the results of the Accra Stakeholders Conference was the
recommendation of the creation of an African Water Facility to
be housed within the African Development Bank
The African Development Bank has been a significant player, not
only in providing funds, but also playing a role in policy coordination
and development in the water sector. Over the past 30 years commitments
to the water sector have exceeded $5 billion with over 60% of
that amount going to water and sanitation projects.
On 8th July 2005, the Inaugural Meeting of the Governing Council
of the AWF was held at the African Development Bank Headquarters
in Tunis, Tunisia. This Council comprises Five Sub regional representatives
from the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), five
representatives of Development Partners/Donor Agencies, One representative
from AU/NEPAD, One representative of UN Water/Africa and One representative
on the host institution, the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The Chairman of the Council is an independent African with broad
international experience in the Water Sector. His Excellency M.
Abu Zeid, the Minister of Water in Egypt was elected as the first
Chairman of the Council in his personal capacity and an Executive
Director, Mr. Kordje Bedoumra has been appointed by the AfDB and
will serve as an ex-opfficio member of the Governing Council.
The Conference on Water and Sustainable Development recommended
a broad set of objectives for the AWF. The Facility would operate
within the framework established by the Accra Water Conference,
the African Water Vision and within a shorter time frame the NEPAD
Action Plan. It would also be closely linked to the African Development
Bank.
It would, in its initial phase, assist member countries to access
available existing funds for water sector development. In addition
to operating at the national level, the African Water Facility
would, from the outset, operate at the regional and sub-regional
level particularly in support of river basin and transboundary
policy and management questions.
The African Water Facility will be a grant-based facility that
aims to accelerate investments and coordinate and target aid flows
to the water sector in Africa. Because of its widespread political
backing, and its emergence as a facility incepted by Africans
for Africa, the African Water Facility is truly an exciting outcome
of several years’ initiative.
The African Water Facility is unique among
the many initiatives for Africa that have been launched
not only because it was conceived of by Africans in response
to the challenges faced by Africa; but also because it is
in fact the practical outcome of several years’ development
of policy frameworks to address these challenges. Given
its alignment with NEPAD and AMCOW, the AWF is strategically
placed to shape the development process through its experience
and to “raise the profile of water” politically
within Africa and among donors through AMCOW. Because the
AWF seeks to address capacity building at the sub-regional,
regional, and national levels, and given its linkages with
Africa-wide and international initiatives and goals, it
can provide a harmonization of policy goals with practical
outputs. |
Priority Objectives
Priority objectives fall into three major areas:
i) Providing Investment Support for water management programs
and projects
There is evidence of underutilization of available monies for
investment in the water sector in Africa. An immediate objective
of the Facility would be to assist countries on accessing currently
available funds. This could come in a number of ways, including
providing technical assistance for project preparation or assisting
in removing legal or regulatory impediments that block investment
decisions. At present there is no systematic collection or analysis
of data needed to support project requests. An African Water Facility
would work with aid donors, both multilateral and bilateral to
quantify aid monies available.
However, notwithstanding the current underutilization of available
funds there is a substantial gap between current availabilities
and needs. An African Water Facility will be responsible for measuring
that gap and initiating strategies to fill that gap.
ii) Accelerate the development, approval and implementation of
integrated water management plans in those countries which lack
them
With dedicated expertise an African Water Facility could assist
member countries in a number of crucial areas. As a priority,
through workshops and training, emphasis would be placed on program
and project preparation. It would also provide assistance in the
drafting of regulatory instruments and laws. It would operate
as a capacity builder in the water sector.
At the regional and sub regional level it would support existing
river basin and transboundary authorities and help in developing
policy and political support for them. It could assist in the
program preparation of multinational projects.
iii) Facilitate the commitment of additional funds to the water
sector in Africa.
As an immediate objective the facility would seek to raise an
additional $500 million in new credit for investment in the water
sector. Given past patterns of investment the bulk of this money
would be in the form of concessional development assistance monies,
although a portion could be in the form of loan guarantee that
could be used to lever private sector financing of water projects
that could be commercialized.
The paper will discuss possible sources of funds and means for
mobilizing them.
A portion of the new resources could be earmarked for special
purposes such as drought relief or reparation of water infrastructure
destroyed by floods.
| The African Water Facility aims to improve
project preparation directly and indirectly through grants
for building capacity in areas such as public and financial
management; skills and knowledge transfer; research and
data collection; training; and other areas. The proposed
operational structure also suggests that the AWF lead by
example, by adopting programme evaluation principles at
the outset (including preparation, execution, and evaluation
of projects and programmes). In this way the AWF has the
potential to demonstrate efficient use of funding, and to
actively share these skills and experiences with its partners
in Africa, and its grant recipients. |
The Required Investment
The investment required for the long-term African Water Vision
2025 targets is US$ 20 billion per annum. An initial investment
target of US$ 10 billion per year is suggested for meeting urgent
needs. The breakdowns for both investments is shown in the following
table:
Investment requirement for Africa Water Vision
Item |
Description |
Target 2025Annual Investment
(US$ Billion) |
Annual Investment (US$ Billion) |
1 |
Water supply for basic needs |
5.00 |
6.00 |
2 |
Sanitation and hygiene |
7.00 |
3 |
Irrigation and water productivity improvement |
4.00 |
2.00 |
4 |
Water for industry, energy and transport |
2.10 |
2.00 |
5 |
Flood and drought management |
0.40 |
6 |
Policy and institutional reform |
0.35 |
7 |
Knowledge and information |
0.45 |
8 |
Awareness and education |
0.45 |
9 |
Research and development |
0.25 |
|
|
|
|
| Total |
|
20.00 |
10.00 |
Operational Focus in the Area of Facilitation
The Inaugural Meeting of the Governing Council approved the Focal
Areas of Intervention under Facilitation will be under the following
six components. The general areas of support and focus under each
component are also outlined.
.
i. Implementation of National IWRM
ii. National and Regional Capacity Building
iii. Information and Knowledge
iv. Monitoring & Evaluation
v. Programme and Project Preparation
vi. Transboundary Water Resources Management
Operational Focus for Capital Investment
The operational focus for investment are consolidated under four
components as follows:
i. Pilot projects
ii. Development of local water technology
iii. Small scale project implementation
iv. Multipurpose water use
Pilot Projects: Support will be given to innovative pilot
projects in the areas of water harvesting, water supply, sanitation,
irrigation schemes, water quality, wetlands protection, small
dams (with proper environmental and social safeguards), etc. The
main focus will be on up-scaling of research results, implementation
of new initiatives, application of new technologies and supporting
the learning by doing schemes. Piloting of national and regional
initiatives that contribute to the MDG targets and related national
and regional goals will be supported under this component.
Development of local water technology: The Facility will
support a programme that will utilize simple technology and build
on local initiatives to rapidly expand access to water and sanitation,
irrigation and small scale hydropower, up-scaling and commercialization
of research results focused on the rural areas in Africa. Special
attention will be given to the development of water lifting and
distribution systems, community water quality improvement, water
harvesting and storage facilities, and local manufacturing and
dissemination of technologies with community, local private sector
and NGO’s involvement.
Small-scale projects: Capital investment will be provided
for programs mainly in the form of small-scale community and NGO
projects, reinforcing efforts of communities, NGOs, water user
associations and core investment designed to trigger larger and
sustainable investment.
Multipurpose Water Use: Support will be given for extending
the utilization of water to cover multiple purpose uses such as
extending water supply projects to cover livestock or small irrigation
for market gardening. Community level water shed management where
multipurpose water use is critical for human, food; energy security
and environmental sustainability will be supported.
Conclusion
The Facility’s areas of intervention and support over the
coming five years are based on the broad consensus reached on
various stakeholder forums for meeting the objectives of the MDG
targets in Africa during the establishment phase of the Facility.
The stakeholder consensus has been consolidated into two main
intervention areas of facilitation with six components and investment
with four components. The medium term action plan has been developed
to provide the expected achievement over the coming five years
and the resources required to achieve it.
The activities of Facility for 2005 are mainly focused on the
establishment and consolidation of the Facility’s operation
and commencement of priority activities. In this respect the Facility’s
office will be strengthened through the assignment of key professional
staff and development of operational guidelines and procedures.
Operational activities focusing on the development of pipeline
of projects for 2006 implementations and establishment of monitoring
and evaluation and information systems will be undertaken.
