African Water Facility Newsletter, September 2026: Communities, partnerships and investment-ready projects

Newsletter

SEPTEMBER 2026 EDITION

Building Africa’s strategic pipeline of investment-ready water and sanitation projects

Project preparation • Investment mobilisation • Sanitation transformation • Partnerships

INSIDE THIS EDITION

2026 Call for Proposals • Strategy 2026–2030 • Orange–Senqu • Congo sanitation reform • AUSII investment pipeline • Philanthropy and donor engagement • Germany partnership • Mali field update

An initiative of the African Ministers’ Council on Water, administered by the African Development Bank

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In this edition

OPENING MESSAGE

Preparing projects that can attract investment and deliver impact

Message from the Coordinator of the African Water Facility

Africa’s water and sanitation challenge is also a project preparation challenge. Across the continent, governments and institutions have identified urgent priorities, yet many projects cannot attract financing because essential studies, designs, safeguards, institutional arrangements or financial structures remain incomplete.

The African Water Facility exists to help close this gap. Through targeted grants and technical support, the Facility enables countries and regional institutions to transform priority concepts into credible investment opportunities. This catalytic role is central to our 2026–2030 Strategy, which strengthens the connection between project preparation, investment mobilisation and sustainable implementation.

The 2026 Call for Proposals has now moved from launch to review. This is an important step in building a stronger strategic pipeline of climate-resilient water and sanitation investments and ensuring that the Facility’s resources are directed towards projects with clear development value and realistic pathways to financing.

This first 2026 edition of the AWF Newsletter brings together our strategic direction, selected portfolio results, the Orange–Senqu regional planning experience, sanitation reform and project preparation in the Republic of Congo, implementation support in Mali, and a growing programme of international engagement with donors, governments, philanthropies and private-sector partners.

Our recent engagements in Stockholm and Berlin show why this outward-facing work matters: project preparation must be matched by stronger partnerships and resource mobilisation if Africa is to move priority investments towards implementation at the required scale.

We invite governments, basin organisations, implementing agencies, development partners and investors to engage with the Facility. Africa’s water security ambitions will depend not only on identifying the right solutions, but on preparing them well enough to be financed, implemented and sustained at scale.

Samuel Blazyk
Coordinator, African Water Facility

LEAD STORY

2026 Call for Proposals moves into review

From open call to strategic pipeline

AWF launched its 2026 Call for Proposals on 15 July 2026, inviting eligible African institutions to submit high-impact water and sanitation initiatives with clear potential to attract downstream investment and deliver sustainable development results.

The submission window closed on 25 September 2026. Under the Call, AWF grant financing does not exceed EUR 1 million per selected project. The ceiling applies to the AWF contribution and does not limit the total value of the proposed investment, allowing larger projects to be considered where applicants demonstrate credible co-financing arrangements, investor interest or a realistic pathway towards financing.

The Call addresses a recurring sector challenge: many projects respond to urgent and well-recognised needs but cannot advance because essential feasibility work, detailed designs, safeguards, financial structuring, transaction support or institutional arrangements remain incomplete.

The Call generated strong interest across Africa, attracting submissions from a diverse range of sovereign and non-sovereign entities. The review of proposals is currently underway and will continue through the end of the year, as AWF assesses the submissions against the Call’s eligibility and selection criteria.

The Call is designed to strengthen AWF’s strategic pipeline and help promising projects close the preparation gaps that prevent them from reaching technical and financial maturity.

A strong preparation grant should not end with a study. It should move a priority investment measurably closer to financing, procurement and implementation.

STRATEGY IN FOCUS

A sharper direction for 2026–2030

Preparing better projects, securing finance and strengthening AWF as a continental facility

AWF enters the 2026–2030 period with a clear mission: to serve as Africa’s continental lead facility for catalytic project preparation, secure downstream investment and facilitate greater private-sector participation in beneficial uses of water.

The Strategy links preparation, finance mobilisation and institutional performance. In practical terms, AWF will prioritise projects and partnerships that demonstrate strong country ownership, credible preparation needs, clear development value and realistic prospects for downstream finance.

Impact at a glance

Strategy delivery scenarios presented to donors: EUR 75m → 30 bankable projects and ~EUR 800m downstream finance; EUR 90m → 36 projects and ~EUR 960m; EUR 120m → 48 projects and ~EUR 1.28bn.

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Turning shared priorities into investable projects

The Orange–Senqu Basin illustrates how regional planning can organise a pipeline for climate-resilient investment

For families, farmers and businesses across Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, water security depends on turning shared regional priorities into technically credible and financially attractive investments.

A EUR 1.5 million climate-resilient planning programme, implemented by the Orange–Senqu River Commission with support from AWF and NEPAD-IPPF, helped develop a 30-year Climate-Resilient Investment Plan for the basin. The programme assessed investments against climate scenarios and strengthened basin-wide planning and integrated water-resource-management frameworks.

The resulting plan identifies 36 priority investments across nine thematic clusters, including water storage, inter-basin transfers, irrigation, wastewater reuse and catchment management. It provides a structured pipeline through which countries and partners can sequence priorities, engage potential financiers and move individual projects towards implementation.

Two priority investments identified in the plan secured financing in 2025: the Polihali Dam under Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, at approximately EUR 1.65 billion, and the Neckartal Dam Hydropower project in Namibia, at approximately EUR 289 million. Together, these represent approximately EUR 1.93 billion in downstream financing.

The lesson is not that planning automatically delivers finance. It is that a credible regional investment framework gives countries and financiers a common basis for sequencing, preparation and investment decisions.

SANITATION SPOTLIGHT

Republic of Congo: from institutional reform to an investment pipeline

AWF technical assistance is helping strengthen policy, capacity and preparation for city-wide inclusive sanitation

In January 2025, the Republic of Congo created a ministry dedicated to urban sanitation for the first time. The new institution inherited a sector facing significant service gaps, limited specialist capacity and a need for stronger policy, coordination and investment planning.

At the Ministry’s request, AWF deployed a sanitation Technical Assistant from 1 April to 30 September 2026. The assignment combines project preparation, capacity building, sector coordination, governance reform and support for city-wide inclusive sanitation.

A key milestone came on 18 June 2026, when the Government approved the revised National Sanitation Policy. The Ministry’s sanitation performance dashboard was subsequently approved on 21 August 2026.

The technical assistance has also supported preparation of a new sanitation law, strengthened coordination with development partners, introduced practical training on AWF proposal preparation and helped translate the City-Wide Inclusive Sanitation approach into an emerging investment pipeline.

The technical assistance is also helping the Ministry explore sanitation financing mechanisms, including a proposed Sanitation Program Facility, greater use of private-sector and climate-finance instruments, and the concept of a national sanitation fund.

AUSII AND PARTNERSHIPS

Building the foundations for city-wide sanitation investment

Diagnostics, institutional strengthening and project preparation are creating a stronger platform for urban sanitation finance

Through the Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative (AUSII), AWF is working to move urban sanitation beyond isolated infrastructure projects towards city-wide systems that combine service delivery, institutions, markets, regulation and financing.

Diagnostic work has focused on priority countries including the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda. The objective is to identify service gaps, strengthen enabling conditions and develop investment-ready sanitation programmes that can mobilise larger public and private financing.

From strategy to partnerships

AWF is taking its 2026–2030 agenda to donors, governments and sector partners

Why these engagements matter: AWF’s project-preparation mandate depends on strong relationships with the institutions that can fund preparation, co-finance investment-ready projects and help countries move from priority needs to implementation.

INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS

Germany advances strategic partnership with AWF

Berlin engagement puts core funding, political support and private-sector collaboration at the centre of AWF’s 2026–2030 agenda

H.E. Prof. Dr Hani Sewilam, Chair of the AWF Governing Council, with H.E. Reem Alabali-Radovan, Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.

BERLIN | 1–3 SEPTEMBER

AWF AND GERMAN GOVERNMENT ADVANCE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA’S WATER SECURITY

A high-level mission co-led by H.E. Prof. Dr Hani Sewilam, Chair of the AWF Governing Council, and Mtchera Chirwa, Director of the Water Development and Sanitation Department at the African Development Bank, focused on strengthening political and financial support for AWF and deepening links with German partners.

Germany made an initial EUR 500,000 pledge in core funding to AWF. Discussions with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) highlighted alignment around water security, investment readiness and approaches for mobilising public and private participation in Africa’s water sector.

Engagements with the German Water Partnership opened further dialogue with German private-sector expertise and technology providers. Follow-up includes finalising the BMZ funding agreement and involving BMZ and GWP in preparations for Cairo Water Week.

Why it matters: the Berlin mission links AWF’s project-preparation mandate directly to political support, core resources and practical pathways for German financing, expertise and technology.

Read the Germany story on the AWF website

Other international engagement highlights

Stockholm, Jeddah and Kigali broadened AWF’s partnership base alongside the Berlin mission

Together, these engagements broaden AWF’s partnership base; Berlin demonstrates most clearly how sustained political engagement can translate into direct institutional support.

LOOKING AHEAD

Cairo Water Week: taking the Strategy to African sovereigns

The next major engagement will focus on domestic resource mobilisation, partnerships and investment readiness

Cairo Water Week is scheduled for 25–29 October 2026. AWF plans to use the platform to deepen engagement with African governments, donors and partners around project preparation, domestic resource mobilisation and the implementation of the 2026–2030 Strategy.

On 27 October, AWF will convene a high-level Advocacy and Call for Support Event for its 2026–2030 Strategy, co-chaired by Egypt and Senegal. The hybrid session, scheduled for 11:30–13:00 in Room Picasso, will bring together African governments, development partners and financing institutions to strengthen support for the Strategy and accelerate investment in safe water and sanitation across Africa.

The event will provide a platform for partner interventions and dialogue around the financing and partnerships required to move African water and sanitation priorities from project preparation towards investment and implementation.

Engagement journey | Donors & Observers → Brazzaville → Madrid → Jeddah → Kigali → Stockholm → Berlin → Cairo → UN Water Conference

FROM THE FIELD

Mali: accelerating implementation of climate-resilient water and sanitation investments

Supervision focuses on converting an agreed action plan into delivery before project closing

From 20 to 24 April 2026, AWF led a supervision mission for the Project to Support Climate- and COVID-19-Resilient Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation in the Kayes Region and Kati Circle (PAAEPAR-3C2K). The mission reviewed physical and financial progress, procurement, safeguards and the measures needed to accelerate implementation.

The mission resulted in a detailed action plan covering all remaining activities, revisions to procurement and budget arrangements, and measures to speed contracting. A 72-hour timeframe for signing service-provider contracts was agreed with the Minister responsible for water, while the Minister also decided to review implementation progress with the Project Coordinator every two weeks.

A field visit to Dogodouman in Kati Circle enabled the mission to meet local authorities and future beneficiaries and visit sites intended to receive water and sanitation infrastructure. Environmental and social performance was assessed as satisfactory, with 89 grievance committees installed at commune and village levels and no complaints registered since project start.

Since the April supervision mission, the project team has continued implementing the accelerated workplan, with priority procurement packages moving forward and follow-up focused on completing the remaining works and services before the 31 December 2026 closing date.

The management lesson is simple: where implementation time is short, supervision must translate quickly into specific actions, deadlines, accountability and follow-up.

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND KNOWLEDGE

From preparation to financing

AWF’s value lies in making the pathway from priority need to investment visible

The investment pipeline is not a single list of projects. It is a progression in which technical preparation, investor engagement, financing decisions and implementation reinforce one another. The examples below show this pathway across AWF's portfolio.

OPPORTUNITY AREA

What makes a project investment-ready?

Five disciplines that help move projects from recognised need to financing decisions

1.Start with ownership

A project needs a clearly defined problem, an accountable institution and alignment with national or regional priorities. Preparation is strongest when the eventual implementing institution is engaged from the beginning.

2.Build credible evidence

Feasibility work, demand analysis, engineering, safeguards, climate-risk assessment and cost estimates should reduce uncertainty and support real decisions, not simply produce reports.

3.Make the financing pathway visible

Preparation should identify who might finance the project, what conditions they will require, and which risks must be reduced before a financing decision can be made.

4.Treat institutions as part of the investment

Infrastructure cannot perform without clear mandates, capable institutions, sustainable operating models, regulation and accountability.

5.Design for delivery and inclusion

Climate resilience, environmental and social safeguards, gender, affordability and long-term service delivery should be integrated into project design rather than added at the end.

Good project preparation is not an administrative step before financing. It is the process that turns uncertainty into evidence, priorities into decisions and development needs into investable propositions.

DATES AND ABOUT THE FACILITY

Keep the next milestones on the radar

Calls, partner engagements and upcoming AWF moments

Stay connected

African Water Facility

A continental platform for catalytic water and sanitation project preparation

The African Water Facility is an initiative of the African Ministers’ Council on Water, administered by the African Development Bank. As Africa’s dedicated project preparation facility for water and sanitation, it helps countries and institutions prepare bankable projects, mobilise investment, support catalytic approaches and strengthen sector governance.

AWF works across the project cycle, from early investment planning and feasibility work to transaction support, investor engagement and implementation follow-up. Its purpose is not to replace the large-scale financing required by the sector, but to help build the technical, institutional and financial foundations that make such investment possible.

By linking preparation, finance and knowledge, the Facility supports a stronger continental pipeline of climate-resilient water and sanitation projects capable of improving lives, strengthening economies and advancing regional cooperation.

Preparing projects. Mobilising investment. Delivering impact.

Thank you for reading the first 2026 edition of the African Water Facility Newsletter.
Another edition will be published later in 2026.

Download the full newsletter (PDF)