A commitment to do more on sanitation through an Africa – EU partnership
to help achieve the sanitation MDG target in Africa where 589 million people
(60% of the population) lack access to safe sanitation

Andrew Cotton (1258335)

English

Loughborough University Institutional Repository

   This item was submitted to Loughborough’s Institutional Repository (https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/) by the author and is made available under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions.      For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/  Africa-EU Statement on Sanitation1 The broad coalition of actors behind this statement, prepared by the Africa Working Group of the EU Water Initiative, includes: the Chair of AMCOW; members of the AMCOW – TAC; the Governments of the EU troika (UK, France, Austria); representatives of other European Member States and Civil Society in Africa and European Member States2 Comment by Dr Shiferaw  Teklemariam, State Minister of Health, Government of Ethiopia3  Hutton, G., Haller, L. and Bartram J.  Economic and health effects of increasing coverage of low cost household drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to countries off-track to meet MDG target 10. WHO (2007)Supporting the eThekwini Declaration and Action PlanThe Africa – EU partnership is committed to support the eThekwini Declaration following the AfricaSan Conference in Durban, South Africa, 18-20th February 2008. The partnership will seek to progress  the following calls for: • preparation and updating of national sanitation policies and strategies; establishing a single national plan for sanitation, along with an increased profile for sanitation within Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and other relevant national planning processes;24 April 2008Africa-EU Statement  on Sanitation A commitment to do more on sanitation through an Africa – EU partnership1 to help achieve the sanitation MDG target in Africa where 589 million people (60% of the population) lack access to safe sanitation.• a single, senior, lead institution in charge of the inter-ministerial coordination of the sanitation sector that is accountable at the highest level;  • improved information and monitoring systems to track and report progress regularly;• establishment of specific public sector budget allocations for sanitation and hygiene and the aspiration that these allocations should be a minimum of 0.5% of GDP; and• supporting the commitment of AMCOW and the AMCOW Technical Advisory Committee  to lead Africa towards achievement of the water and sanitation MDGs.The Africa – EU partnership wishes to emphasise the importance of the roles of Local Government and Civil Society in achieving successful implementation of sanitation programmes in support of national commitments and to re-affirm the CSD13 recommendations.Addressing the Political Challenges The Africa – EU partnership actively encourages African governments to:• pursue the pledges of the eThekwini Declaration and AfricaSan action plan;• lobby national and regional leaders to endorse commitments to sanitation and publicly  champion  the sanitation sector;• make political commitments, for example by inclusion of sanitation as part of  election manifestos;• address the need for Leadership in sanitation, with inter-ministerial cooperation and mutual accountability led from the very top;The Sanitation Imperative The Africa – EU partnership recognises sanitation as a catalyst for economic development.  Healthy and productive households are necessary in order to boost the national and local economies2:  Every $1 spent on sanitation can save $9 for the economy3. This is in addition to the direct beneficial impacts on public health, dignity, and the potential for increased attendance of girls at school. Africa-EU Statement on Sanitation• commit to mobilise financial contributions as counterpart to external support and in particular to ensure that resources are made available to Local Government and other local organisations;• be responsive to the demands and needs of  users  in developing  policy and programme priorities; and• work with National Statistical Offices to strengthen and harmonise national performance data.The Africa – EU partnership actively encourages European Member State governments to:• recognize sanitation as a priority for the development of Africa through committing to the eThekwini Declaration and AfricaSan action plan;• commit to improved donor coordination for sanitation and ensure alignment of development assistance with  national strategies in Africa;• support credible, costed sanitation plans that are in line with national strategies; ensure that financing for sanitation is adequate, coordinated and strategic; and• reinforce sustained commitment to AMCOW and its Technical Advisory Committee (AMCOW TAC).Supporting National and Local ActionSupporting National ActionsThe Africa – EU partnership actively supports actions at the national level to:  • ensure that African and European ministers are briefed and have access to information on sanitation, its benefits and the links to poverty and economic development; •  promote the  economic, health and social imperatives of sanitation;  and• lobby for national leadership, political priority and political commitment to action that leads to policy formulation, workable institutional structures, and assignment of financial and human resources to those “doing the job”. National policy and strategies should seek to: • foster approaches that respond to the demands of households and communities; • create conditions in which partnerships between Private/Public/civil society can flourish with each playing to its strengths; • build an enabling environment that facilitates “do-ers” to get on with their job at the scale and level of activity required;• mainstream sanitation in related sectors including health, education, water and environment through national planning processes; and• recognise the complementarities of public and household funds and the need for users and small enterprises to have access to appropriate finance. Supporting Local ActionsThe Africa – EU partnership actively supports actions at the local level to:  • support governments’ commitment to implement decentralisation laws with roles and responsibilities between local and national government clearly defined. This to recognise that constitutional imperatives and election mandates are drivers for ways of working;• identify the  complementary roles of Local Governments and other local stakeholders and existing mechanisms that provide support;• recognise and support the challenge of  making inter-sectoral coordination effective at the local level (as well as at the national level); • make resources available locally and ensure they are utilised. This requires: awareness raising,  skills transfer, capacity building, development of appropriate financial mechanisms, and information and knowledge brokering;• support the development of local strategies to enable Local Government to work with civil society to reach the poor especially in informal, unplanned and slum areas;• address the serious human resource capacity gaps and make more use of existing resources such as national associations of Local Government;• support the emergence, development and consolidation of a dynamic sanitation market, making the links between household demand and the supply chain of skills, information and materials; and• assist local target groups in need of improved sanitation to mobilise local finance.

Africa-EU statement on sanitation

https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/Africa-EU_statement_on_sanitation/9582752/files/17220326.pdf

Africa-EU statement on sanitation

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