UN agencies have impacted water and sanitation policy in Africa, says Dione

Addis Ababa, 25 January (ECA)---UN agencies and organizations have successfully shaped water and sanitation policy in Africa, benefitting millions of people on the continent, the Director not Food Security and Sustainable Development at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Dr. Josue Dione , said today in Addis Ababa.

In an opening statement to the 6th meeting of UN-Water/Africa, Dr. Dione said from its inception as Inter-Agency Group on Water in Africa (IGWA) in 1992, UN-Water/Africa had evolved pragmatically into a credible proactive platform for dialogue among UN agencies, partners and other stakeholders on water-related issues in Africa.

He said UN-Water/Africa was making contributions to the policy debate on water-related issues through active participation in the African Union forums; the provision of relevant information and policy advice and the production of working documents for informed decision-making.

UN-Water/Africa is composed of UN agencies and organizations working in Africa in the water and sanitation sector and includes the African Union, African Development Bank, the Global Water Partnership and the NEPAD Secretariat. Its Secretariat is based at the ECA.

Citing a catalogue of achievements, Dione said UN-Water/Africa made substantive contributions to the Africa Water Vision 2025, the formation of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) as well as the first and second Pan African Implementation and Partnership Conference on Water (PANAFCON).

He said the Group had also contributed to the African Union summits on the challenges of implementing integrated and sustainable development in agriculture and water in Africa (2004) and the Summit on water and sanitation (2008). UN-Water/Africa also played a major role in establishing the Africa Water Week, and the African Water Development Report, said Dione.

The Director said that ECA had discharged its role as a lead Agency on trounsboundary waters in Africa by deploying human and financial resources to support African countries in their capacity building efforts.
“This activity area allows a fast and flexible response to requests to interested countries to meet small but urgent requirements as defined by them and enables those countries to harness the expertise that exists in the UN,” said Dione.

He said ECA, as UN-Water/Africa Secretariat, had already initiated work on the second edition of the African Water Development Report and called on agencies to speedily complete their mandated chapters based on the comparative expertise of the constituent agencies.

The meeting ends tomorrow with a communiqué and outcome document.

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