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FINANCING COOPERATIONas an important means of supporting Africa’s development and iscollaborating with the African Union Commission, the UnitedNations Economic Commission for Africa and the New Partnershipfor Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and CoordinatingAgency in the development and implementation of the Programmefor Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). The water-relatedcomponents of the programme target the development of multipurposedams, exploitation of extensive transboundary aquifers,and capacity building for Africa’s lake and river basin organizationsso they can plan and develop hydraulic infrastructure to improveAfrica’s water and food security. PIDA allows for developing thecontinent’s huge hydropower potential for its industrial transformation,as well as increasing access to safe drinking water for addressinghealth, education and gender-related issues. Water infrastructure isalso contributing to mitigation of the water-related challenges posedby climate change and variability.In order to address the very low access rates for rural watersupply and sanitation (RWSS) services, AfDB initiated the RuralWater Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI) in 2003. RWSSI isa regional initiative which provides a common collaboration frameworkbetween African governments and international developmentpartners for resource mobilization and investment to meet the MDGsand Africa Water Vision 2025 targets. By the end of 2012, AfDB hadinvested about US$1.3 billion in financing 37 rural water supply andsanitation programmes in 27 countries. Several donors are supportingthe initiative through their bilateral or multilateral channels, andan estimated US$4.2 billion has been leveraged through the supportof other donors and the African governments. This collaborativeeffort has so far contributed to bringing access to rural water supplyand sanitation to 56 million and 41 million people respectively.Regional water initiatives supported by AfDB include thoseunder the East African Community, the Economic Communityof West African States, the Intergovernmental Authority onDevelopment, the Southern African Development Community(SADC) and all the major river and lake basins (Nile, Volta,Congo, Niger, Senegal, Gambia, Lake Chad and Lake Victoria).These initiatives involve developing integrated water resourcesmanagement (IWRM) plans, financing feasibility studies, capacitybuilding activities and investments. AfDB is leading resourcemobilization initiatives for a number of regional and subregionalentities such as the Permanent Inter-State Committee for DroughtControl in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin Commission. InEast Africa AfDB is collaborating with the United Nations HumanSettlements Programme (UNHABITAT) and the Lake VictoriaBasin Commission through a major regional water and sanitationprogramme that targets 15 urban centres in the immediate vicinityof the lake in the five riparian countries. The bank is also workingwith SADC to support three of its member countries (Tanzania,Zimbabwe and Mozambique) through the Shared WatercoursesSupport Project for Buzi, Save and Ruvuma River Basins.Collaboration at country levelAt the country level, cooperation with regional member countries(RMCs) and their development partners plays an important role inthe way AfDB supports the water sector. Many of the 62 water andsanitation projects in 35 countries with about US$3 billion of bankfinancing in the current portfolio were developed in collaborationwith other donors or are co-financed with them. Through its decentralizedstructure and in line with the Paris Declaration principlesAfDB collaboration at country levelA joint sector review meeting in UgandaMali – AfDB currently leads a group of 14 donorswithin the consultative framework that brings togethergovernment and donors to jointly support the nationalwater and sanitation programme (Programme Sectorield’Eau et Assainissment). The framework is based on athree-year rolling medium-term expenditure frameworkthat establishes the financing required to meet sectorobjectives, takes into account existing government anddonor commitments and identifies the financing gaps tobe addressed by partners.Sierra Leone – AfDB is a member of the DevelopmentPartners forum, which enables information sharingand discussion of issues regarding support to SierraLeone’s development agenda, including the water andsanitation sector. The bank is now working closelywith the Government, the Department for InternationalDevelopment (DfID), the Global Environment Fund andRWSSI Trust Fund partners to support a Rural WaterSupply and Sanitation Project with an estimated cost ofUS$43 million. DfID’s funding will be channelled throughAfDB’s Fragile States Facility.Tanzania – AfDB and other partners (KfW, WorldBank, Agence Française de Développement, DfID,UNICEF, European Union, Millennium ChallengeCorporation, Water Aid and the governments of Belgium,Japan, South Korea and Norway) are supporting thewater sector SWAp through the Government’s WaterSector Development Programme. AfDB funding isearmarked for rural water supply and sanitation.Uganda – within Uganda’s broader donorcoordination framework and SWAp for the WSS sector,AfDB is a member of the Water and Sanitation SectorDevelopment Partners Group which enables the bank, incollaboration with several other development partners,to jointly enhance the efficiency, effectiveness andcoherence of their assistance to the sector. AfDB iscurrently involved in joint technical sector reviews for theUganda Water and Sanitation Project and is co-financingthe Kampala Sanitation Programme with KfW.Image: AfDB[ 160 ]