On 16 July 2022, the African Union and Government of Zambia in collaboration with the International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa launched the Zambia Water Investment Programme.

Under the banner of “Supporting the attainment of the Vision 2030 aimed at attaining prosperous middle-income status by 2030”, the Zambia Water Investment Programme aims to ensure national water security and the sustainable management and use of Zambia’s water resources for socio-economic development.

The Zambia Water Investment Programme falls within the Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP), which was adopted by the African Heads of State and Government in February 2021 during the 34th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union. The main expected result from the AIP is the leveraging of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) investments worth US$30 billion annually by 2030 and the resultant creation of five million jobs over the same period.

The key results that are expected from the formulation and implementation of the Zambia Water Investment Programme are the leveraging of about US$5.75 billion for water security investments and the creation of about 200,000 formal jobs in Zambia by 2030. The main objective of the Zambia Water Investment Programme is to enhance job creation through gender-sensitive investments in water security, industrialisation and climate-resilient development.

The Zambia Water Investment Programme was presented as an example of how countries can prepare the ground for investment mobilization, use of the Scorecard approach in investment mobilisation and collaboration with the International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa.