Strengthening water governance

The African water Facility (AWF) will provide support for a wide range of water governance interventions which are designed to improve the enabling environment and strengthen water resources management at community, national and regional level. As a result, the Regional Member Countries (RMCs) and regional organizations will have increased capacity to govern their water resources effectively based on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles and transboundary cooperative arrangements. This will be achieved through:

National water resources management

1. Policy development,  reforms and capacity building: This will focus on the following:

  • Development of guidelines and formulation of national water policies and institutional frameworks.
  • Preparation of legislation, development of regulatory instruments, norms and standards and design of sector reforms.
  • Promotion of pro-poor reforms of social, regulatory and privatisation policies.
  • Establishment and strengthening of institutional arrangements.
  • Capacity building including institutional and human resource capacities for effective water resources.
  • Development of a framework for private sector participation and public-private and public-public partnerships.
  • Raising awareness on water resource issues and promotion of stakeholder participation and strengthening of coordination.

2. Planning and implementation: The AWF will facilitate effective IWRM at the national level through planning, strategy and programme development and implementation. As a result, implementation capacities of RMCs will be strengthened with all stakeholders able to participate in the implementation of IWRM. The Johanesbourg Plan of Implementation adopted at the 2002 Water Supply and Sanitation Development (WSSD) will be an important reference in guiding AWF support to African countries in their efforts to develop and implement IWRM plans. Activities that will be supported include:

  • Prioritization of water in PRSPs and other national development plans.
  • Assessment of country need, IWRM status and stakeholder involvement.
  • Resources assessment and embelishment of planning and implementation data and the information base.
  • Preparation of national IWRM strategies and master plans, taking into consideration the impact of climate change and variability.
  • Preparation of country programmes and related investment requirements and finacing strategies, and support implementation.

3. Environmental management: The AWF will provide assistance for environmental management activities in support of the implementation of IWRM. The activities will go to sustain and improve water environment in order to protect the quality and quantity of water resources and ecosystems. The AWF may provide support for a wide range of activities under this component:

  • Development of environmental policies and strategic frameworks.
  • Preparation of strategies and actions for coping with climate variability and change.
  • Development of flood and drought risk management strategies and actions.
  • Watershed management including tackling land degradation to ensure water availability and quality.
  • Water quality control and improvement including pollution prevention.
  • Strategic environmental impact assessments and developing local capacity in environmental assessment and monitoring.
  • Raising public awareness of water related environmental issues.
  • Develop environmental funds to support environmental services and water ecosystem protection.

4. Mainstreaming social concerns: AWF will assist in the undertaking of social analysis on a systematic basis in support of IWRM implementation. This will contribute to the mainstreaming of a number of cross-cutting issues related to socio-economic and equity aspects of integrated water resources management activities. Social analysis and mainstreaming will include:

  • Participatory planning and evaluation.
  • Social impact assessment and monitoring.
  • Development of policies and strategic frameworks.
  • Poverty and vulnerability analysis.
  • Property and user rights.
  • Sustainable livelihoods.
  • Enhancement of public awareness on socio-economic issues in relation to IWRM.

Transboundary water resources management

The overall objective is to support the joint development of transboundary waters using an Integrated Water Resources Management (IRWM) approach as appropriate. This will be achieved through facilitating political will, development of legislatif frameworks, promotion of cooperaion, mobilization of resources, and planning joint development programmes able to attract investments. This will lead to an overall outcome of improved Transboundary Water Resources Management (TWRM), with regional organizations having increased capacity to manage transboundary water resources under a coopeartive framework.

Improving service delivery

I many countries poor service quality, limited access especially for poor and lack of financial viability are the key water supply and sanitation sector challenges. To help remedy this situation, the AWF will support a wide range of activities designed to improve service delivery and access by the poor, and to strengthen financial viability. The main areas of focus will be:

  • Improving the enabling environment
  • Ensuring access by the poor to water supply and sanitation services
  • Promoting wide spectrum of service providers
  • improving public utilities
  • encouraging larger scale private sector involvement
  • promoting Small, Medium and Micro-enterprise (SMME)
  • Supporting communities, civil society groups, and service oriented NGOs
  • Improving performance of service providers.