Enabling Environment

August 2011- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) received a € 411,000 grant for a study to establish a regional water observatory to contribute the improvement of water sector performance.  The observatory would help strengthen political will on common water management policy amongst ECOWAS member countries, and promote the convergence of national policy outlook and strategy framework to facilitate joint action on transboundary water resources management.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

July 2009 – The Government of the Central African Republic received a € 2 million grant to establish an institutional and regulatory framework to strengthen water and sanitation sector governance and institutional capacity to attract additional funding and make more sustainable investments. The project is expected to enhance national capacities in the sector in terms of water governance, monitoring, management and planning of water resources.

November 2009 – Water Operators Partnership (WOP) received a €490,000 grant to improve service to customers through more sustainable utility operations including better quality of service, financial performance, technical performance and coverage. Financial performance improvement shall aim at increasing operation cost coverage ratio and collection efficiency, while technical performance shall primarily focus on the reduction of water losses.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

December 2009 - The Government of Tunisia received a €2 million grant to finance the setting up of a national water information system in Tunisia called SINEAU (Systeme d'Information National sur l'Eau), which is an integral part of the second phase of an investment programme in the water sector called PISEAU II. The project will help ensure that the supply of quality water meets the increasing demand due to population growth.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

January 2009 - The Government of Togo received €1.6 million grant to develop and operationalize a national water information system. This entails improving and intensifying infrastructure providing data and information on water at the Ministry of Water Resources and related organisations, maintaining and upgrading the existing hydrological and climatic observation networks, building the capacity of the staff in water data and information management, and ensuring better water sector information coordination.

December 2007 -The Government of Chad received a €490,000 grant to undertake a comprehensive inventory of rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) facilities in the country to support the updating and implementation of the RWSS programme for Chad. This will inform on access gaps and guide planning and development decision to improve access to water supply and sanitation of rural populations where most needed.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

April 2010 - The Government of Gambia received a €2 million grant to finance the implementation of national water sector reforms. The project aims at supporting the introduction of a supportive legal and institutional environment for integrated water resources management (IWRM), developing IWRM strategies, and strengthening and improving data and information systems. This will also facilitate provision of water supply and sanitation at country level in order to achieve the MDGs as well as the African Water Vision.

July 2010 - The Water Resources Commission (WRC) received a €500,000 grant to   introduce a market and end-user oriented planning approach that simultaneously closes the water and nutrient loops called "Design for Reuse" in order to effectively capture the economic value of wastewater and fecal sludge nutrients to help finance, operate and maintain treatment facilities.

August 2010 - The Water Resources Commission (WRC) of Ghana received a € 1.8 million grant to finance the Akosombo and Kpong Dams reoptimisation and reoperation study. The purpose of the project is to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of a technique for reoptimising the operations of the Akosombo and Kpong hydropower dams to reintroduce (or at least improve or enhance) downstream livelihoods and ecosystems, while maintaining, and indeed enhancing, power generation output and reliability.

Photo courtesy of Nasa

January 2011 – The Government of Tunisia received a € 1 million grant to develop a national water vision and strategy to ensure the proper management of the country’s water resources up to 2050 and increase water security. This project will help the government make informed and guided decision about water investments and projects across the country.

Photo courtesy of Nasa