Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 30 May 2025 – On the sidelines of the African Development Bank Group 2025 Annual Meetings, the African Water Facility hosted a high-level event to highlight its strategic role in preparing investment-ready water and sanitation projects across Africa. The event brought together ministers, development partners, private sector representatives, and civil society organisations to discuss how to accelerate progress toward United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 – universal access to water and sanitation.
Opening the session, Mohamed El Azizi, Director General for North Africa at the African Development Bank, said strengthening project preparation across Africa’s water sector is urgent. “The sector faces two challenges: a lack of progress toward the [United Nations Sustainable Development Goals] and significant shifts in the architecture of development aid. The sector can only move forward with bankable projects – this is where the African Water Facility plays a vital role,” he said.
The African Water Facility, hosted by the African Development Bank Group, is a project preparation fund, focused on mobilizing financing for infrastructure development in water and sanitation across Africa. It provides grants, technical assistance, and investment support to governments, and partnerships to implement sustainable water projects.
Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Water and Sanitation, H.E. Bouaké Fofana, told the audience that identifying infrastructure, governance, and human capital is essential to making a real difference for the people that governments serve.
“We must significantly increase the financial resources allocated to the water and sanitation sector. Without this, we cannot guarantee our citizens access to water,” he said. He described the African Water Facility as “an African instrument for African priorities” and urged African governments to support it politically, institutionally, and financially. The Minister also talked about Côte d’Ivoire’s national plan for water and sanitation, emphasizing the country’s commitment to the Facility.
The African Water Facility’s team presented on the Facility’s mandate, achievements, funding needs, and upcoming projects. Debjyoty Mukherjee, a Facility Principal Public-Private Partnership Finance Expert, detailed the Facility’s Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative that aims to provide technical assistance and new ways to finance projects that improve sanitation services across the continent. He said the Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative is carrying out diagnostic studies in 12 countries that the Facility expects will generate 32 projects.
Facility Resource Mobilization Officer who moderated the event, Simon Rolf Wreford-Howard, led a panel discussion exploring the importance of planning projects well, of keeping donors involved, and of ways to build climate resilience. Panellists said African countries need to reduce reliance on donor resources to prepare projects by including resources in their national budgets. The speakers were united in saying that getting countries to lead or be more involved in consultations can make investments run more smoothly and speed up delivery of water and sanitation projects. They also agreed that early planning, stronger country leadership and adequate preparation of projects can help more people get access to water and sanitation services.
Representing the donor community, panellist Veronika Baumgartner-Putz, Senior Advisor in Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Austria, said that Austria has had longstanding support for the African Water Facility and commended its capacity to deliver high-quality projects.
From a beneficiary perspective, Tarek Bouhlel, Director General of African Cooperation at the Ministry of Economy and Planning, Republic of Tunisia, shared how support from the African Water Facility led to the development of Tunisia’s 2050 Water Vision and Strategy and a robust pipeline of water and sanitation projects in the country. He said this work paved the way for major investments in desalination and sanitation infrastructure.
The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, one of the world’s largest funders of child-focused development, expressed strong interest in partnering with African Water Facility. The Foundation’s panellist, Richard Matikanya, Deputy Executive Director for Africa, cited its $100 million WASH program in Ethiopia as an example of how they can partner with other organizations to deliver high impact to communities.
From the private sector, Ahmadou Bakayoko, Managing Director of Côte d’Ivoire’s SODECI water utility, presented its achievements in expanding access through a public-private partnership model. Bakayoko said with strong collaboration and support from government, the utility extended water services to more than two million households, including in hard-to-reach urban areas.
The event wrapped up with broad agreement that the African Water Facility is closing the project preparation gap in Africa’s water and sanitation sector and helping countries to bring in needed investments.
Media Contact:
Mary Temiloluwa Ajayi, Communications and External Relations Department, [email protected]