Twenty African countries are set to receive direct and tailored support through the Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) to scale up access to finance for climate-resilient gender-sensitive water investments by 2030.
The support initiative was announced by the African Union Commission and the AIP’s International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa on the sidelines of World Water Week in Stockholm on 27 August 2024, during a joint event with partners African Development Bank and African Water Facility.
At the same event, the African Development Bank and African Water Facility launched the Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative (AUSII) – a financing window for urban sanitation and the first of its kind in Africa – to mobilise targeted investments in improving access to sanitation in urban cities on the continent.
The announcement of the 20 countries was made by Hon. Carl-Hermann Schlettwein, Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform for the Republic of Namibia, which co-chairs the High-Level Panel as well the Governing Council of the Africa Water Facility.
Said Hon. Schlettwein: “Prioritizing water security and sustainable sanitation on both national and continental agendas is essential for addressing climate change, ensuring food and energy security, and creating jobs.”
“Each participating AU Member State will receive support valued between US$300,000 – US$1 million, across a range of priority areas aimed at leveraging further climate financing,” said Mr. Harsen Nyambe, Director of Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment at the African Union Commission (AUC).
Tailored and targeted support
“These include development of project concept notes, and pipelines as part of the national climate resilient water investment programs and plans. The program also entails strengthening institutional capacity to access climate finance and implementation of gender transformative approaches in water investments, establishing match making knowledge investment platforms to bridge supply of finance and demand for bankable projects, identifying and supporting participating Member countries’ institutions for Green Climate Fund accreditation.”
“An AUC Continental knowledge management investment platform will also be established as part of the AIP Blended Investment Facility to serve as a ‘ co-investment platform’ for countries and developing finance partners,” added Mr. Nyambe.
Support will be offered by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Austrian Development Agency, the Development Bank Southern Africa, and AIP partners including the World Bank, EU Team Europe Blue Africa initiative and others. The support will leverage ongoing funding commitments for advancing climate resilient water security and sustainable sanitation.
Dr. Bapon Fakhruddin, Senior Water Specialist at the GCF, said that the fund had invested over US$ 2.8 billion in Africa.
He urged countries to incorporate and prioritise water security in all aspects of national planning and climate resilience planning including Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans.
Attended by water ministers and their representatives from seven countries – Namibia, Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Uganda, and Zambia – along with AIP funding partners, the event marked a key step towards implementing of the AU Africa Water Investment Action Plan and AU Heads of States Declaration at the 2023 Africa Climate Summit to accelerate the AIP, which seeks to mobilise an additional US$30 billion per year for water by 2030.
“The AIP has catalyzed our continent’s efforts to mobilize the investment needed to put Africa on a better trajectory to bridge the infrastructure gap necessary to achieve its development goals,” said Dr. Mohammed Diatta, Sherpa to the High-Level Panel on behalf of Co-Chair the Republic of Senegal (shown left).
In 2023, the AIP’s High-Level Panel supported the African Union to publish two key reports – Africa’s Rising Investment Tide and the African Water Investment Action Plan – which have outlined sources of financing and funding for water security as well as practical actions that countries can take to transform the investment outlook for water.
Elevating Africa’s Water Agenda at G20 in 2025
“South Africa takes over the G20 Presidency in 2025. This is a key opportunity to advance Africa’s investment priorities, especially around infrastructure. Water infrastructure is the foundation that connects our communities to essential water access,” said Hon. David Mahlobo, Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation for the Republic of South Africa (shown below).
South Africa, the only African country member of the G20, will host a G 20 Summit of Heads of States and Government in 2025 as well as organise close to 200 meetings of ministers and officials from the group, as well as key international development finance partners such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Towards a Continental Knowledge Co-Investment Platform
During the event, the Government of Zambia announced that it would develop a national investment platform which would “link resource demand to resource supply and provides a marketplace where funding proposals can meet potential funders or investors more efficiently”. Minister of Water Development and Sanitation of Zambia, Hon. Collins Nzovu is shown left.
During the event, the Government of Zambia announced that it would develop a national investment platform which would “link resource demand to resource supply and provides a marketplace where funding proposals can meet potential funders or investors more efficiently”.
The platform would ultimately contribute to the establishment of the AU’s AIP International Blended Investment Facility to leverage public-private partnership finance and investments. The mechanism will be developed in partnership with DBSA, UNICEF, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
Private sector and innovative finance sources were identified as being key for closing Africa’s water investment gap by the African Union and the High-Level Panel.
“You can count on the full support of UNCDF to do our utmost to unlock both public and private capital for last mile investments and in doing so transform this momentum into very concrete, ambitious actions that will secure water for all in Africa,” said Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Executive Secretary of the UNCDF.
Water in Every Aspect of Climate Resilience Planning
Core AIP partner, United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), has applied a nexus approach by focusing entry points for financing water security around climate change adaptation, ecosystem services, and agriculture and food security.
“UNDP initiatives under development address climate and land degradation stressors impacting water availability. These projects will contribute to AIP’s pipeline in the Southern Africa region,” said Srilata Kammila, Head of Climate Change Adaptation, UNDP.
Launch the Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative
During the same event, the African Water Facility formally launched the Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative (AUSII) – its newly established sanitation financing window.
Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative aims to increase the scale and impact of investments in urban sanitation services in Africa by strengthening the enabling environment for inclusive urban sanitation approaches and providing blended financing options for efficient and sustainable investments by development and commercial finance institutions.
In 10 years, the African Water Facility through the AUSII financing window aims to connect 15 million people to safely managed sanitation services through 50 projects which are expected to generate USD 7 billion in downstream investments. The Facility needs to mobilise USD 320 million investments in operations for this to happen.
“We have launched this new financing window as a response to the growing demand for sanitation services in Africa, particularly in urban areas. The African Water Facility has a track record of nearly two decades of making a difference in Africa, this new window will help us support more countries to deliver on their sanitation agendas and also bring more partners to the table, particularly the private sector,” said Mr. Mtchera Chirwa, Coordinator, African Water Facility and Acting Director, Water Development and Sanitation department, African Development Bank.
Mr. Chirwa also sits on the AIP Steering Group, which provides strategic support and guidance to implementation of the AIP.
African Water Facility plays a leading role in addressing Africa’s urban sanitation challenges. Through AUSII, the Facility will support African governments, utilities, municipal authorities, private sector, and civil societies to create and scale access to sanitation that is safe and sustainable.
National water investment programmes key for attracting investments
Alex Simalabwi, AIP CEO and Executive Secretary of GWPSA-Africa which hosts the AIP Secretariat, urged African countries to mobilise under the AU’s AIP and develop national water investment programmes to encourage investments for water security.
Hon. Bello Muhammad Goronyo, Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Nigeria confirmed interest to join the AIP and improve efficiency and water investments in the country.
Ugandan Minister of Water, Hon. Sam Cheptoris, represented by Dr. Callist Tindimugaya expressed confidence that with support from the AU’s AIP, the country will develop and implement its water investment programme as announced by the government during the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia.
Headline photo caption: Mtchera Chirwa, AWF; Harsen Nyambe, AUC; Tina Kollerup Hansen, IFU; Hon. Calle Schlettwein, Namibia; Satu Santala, NDF; Hon. Jumaa Aweso; Tanzania; Alex Simalabwi, AIP; Dr Rashid Mbaziira, AMCOW; Anton Jantunen, United Nations Sanitation and Hygiene Fund
All photos courtesy of AfDB/AWF.