Support to AMCOW capacity to influence sanitation policy

Purpose

The project supports AMCOW (African Ministers’ Council on Water) capacity to be the primary source of guidance and information on sanitation and hygiene policy formulation and implementation for African countries, leading to improved sanitation services,

Activities

The project was set up to achieve the following tasks:

Provide technical guidance and training to four fragile states – Burundi, Chad, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe - (the World Bank definition of ‘fragile situation’ is used to identify fragile states) to develop and adopt quality national sanitation and hygiene policies and plans with real potential for impact. The Country Status Overview reports and the AfricaSan Traffic Lights give an indication of the status of countries, including the issues/obstacles to achieving the MDGs and the eThekwini commitments. The 2011 Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Reports will be used as the baseline. Key sector decision makers in the project countries will be given training and facilitation on, among other skills, the use of on-site sanitation. They will be facilitated to interact with peers in countries that registered significant success under similar governance context, such as Rwanda.

Hold the AfricaSan4 conference and awards as a mechanism for tracking progress, refining targets, building leadership, enabling peer support amongst countries and advocacy for implementation of the AfricaSan Action Plan that is targeted at achievement of the eThekwini commitments.

Facilitate development of harmonized tools (indicators, standards and methods) for monitoring sanitation and hygiene in Africa, and train countries to use these tools in reporting to the AU. The project will also advocate for increased support for sanitation and hygiene initiatives in low performance countries identified through the country reports. The 3rd objective will contribute to an AMCOW initiative to establish a pan Africa mechanism for reporting to the AU Heads of States Summit on progress in fulfillment of the 2008 Sharm-el-Sheikh commitments.

Countries of activity

Location of main activity

Objectives

To support four fragile countries to achieve wider implementation of the eThekwini Commitments and get back on track for the achievements of the MDGs (Burundi, Chad, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe); To support AMCOW initiatives on sanitation and hygiene advocacy through the conduct of AfricaSan 4 Conference (May 2015 in Senegal), AfricaSan Awards and enhanced access to sanitation and hygiene information and knowledge management; and To support the pan African mechanism for Water and Sanitation M&E and Reporting to the African Union Summit on Sharm El Sheikh Commitments.

Further information

Research or implementation partners:

A large number of independent consultants, the focal countries, AfricaSan International Task Force (made up of agencies working on sanitation in the continent.

Filter tags

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Capacity development Enabling environment and institutional strengthening Political processes and institutional aspects Specific to one or several countries Sub-Saharan Africa

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