Focus on Africa

A combination of natural and man-made factors and a severe lack of financial resources make Africa one of the most deficient regions of the world in terms of safe water. RWSN estimates that in Africa nearly 450 million people do not have access to safe water and 490 million do not have access to adequate sanitation.

Africa needs cost-effective and sustainable technologies and local capacity building to solve its water supply and sanitation crisis. In rural Sub-Saharan Africa, only 39% of the population has access to safe water and 34 % to sanitation. This region of Africa requires urgent national and international efforts.

Africa is exposed to all the problems that arise from this deficiency, making life particularly difficult for the most vulnerable sections of society - the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and women and children. The following brief profile of Africa underlines the need for immediate action.

• The current population in Africa is estimated to be 770 million (13 percent of the world's population) and it is projected to reach 1,300 million by the year 2025.
• The under-five mortality rate in the Sub-Sahara region is 170 per 1000 live births, which is perhaps the highest in the world.
• 2.2 million children die each year because of diarrhoea, many of them Africans. A much larger number of survivors are underweight, mentally or physically disabled, vulnerable to other deadly diseases, or too weak to go to school. Lives can be saved and improved through the provision of basic water and sanitation services and the adoption of better hygiene practices.
• Twenty four billion hours (equivalent to USD 1,200 million at a conservative estimate) are lost each year in Africa in caring for those with diarrhoea.
• Forty billion hours (equivalent to USD 2,000 million) are lost each year on water collection from distant sources in rural Africa alone.
• There have been several drought-like situations in Africa in the past 10 years.
• Africa's girls are particularly hard hit by poor sanitation and water supply situation. Many are kept at home to do domestic work, including taking care of the sick and collecting water. As many as one in ten (possibly 20 million girls) may be deprived of education because of this situation.

Considering the severity of the constraints and the scale of the problem, bringing water to Africa's unserved people is an enormous undertaking. Much of the required investments will have to come from the social funds and from resources made available because of debt relief.

The good news is that Africa does have adequate reserves of groundwater. What it lacks is the capacity and resources to harness and manage it.

In the recent past, governments and external support agencies have launched several regional initiatives, such as the Lusophone Initiative of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, AFRICA 2000, UNICEF/OAU Dakar Initiative, National Programmes of Action, Capacity Building Consortium for Utility Partnership, Water and Sanitation Africa Initiative (WASAI) and various regional programmes of bilateral support agencies. The private sector investment in Africa in water supply and sanitation sector stands at USD 250 million so far and this is unlikely to increase in the near future.

RWSN for Africa

Due to RWSN's initial focus on Asia, its interventions in Africa have been very limited. The network is now poised to redress this imbalance and to extend its presence in the region. Its demand-based African initiatives (such as the Malda pump development in Malawi, or the support to standardisation in Zimbabwe and Mozambique) indicate the demand for technical assistance in the region.

RWSN's track record demonstrates the necessary experience and expertise to support efforts to solve Africa's water crisis.

For example, Africa has over 40 varieties of handpumps, reflecting a critical need for standardisation, one of RWSN's areas of specialisation. Of the approximately 250,000 handpumps installed in Africa, less than half are operational.

Due to low market potential, underdeveloped industrial infrastructure and lack of local capacity, drilling costs are very high in Africa - in some cases 10 to 20 times more than in Asia. The region needs to make extra efforts towards local capacity building and towards reducing drilling costs - both activities are within RWSN's realm of expertise.

In short, Africa is in immediate need of RWSN support. Adapting RWSN's Asia experience to the African context is in keeping with other regional initiatives and the Network's mandate to promote South-South co-operation. However, the ground realities of the two continents differ in almost countless ways and there can be no duplication. In fact, many regions in Africa have suffered because of a simple mismatch between the water source and the type of handpump used. Nonetheless, and despite the starkly contrasting conditions, many of the lessons learned in Asia are relevant to Africa's needs. It is estimated that an investment in low-cost appropriate technologies (instead of conventional technologies) will dramatically improve water supply and sanitation coverage in the rural and deprived urban areas of Africa.

Africa plans to implement future rural investment projects as demand-responsive programmes, in which the governments will be the facilitators and the private sector will be the provider of services. This is in line with RWSN's stress on partnerships between the government, external agencies and the private sector. It will, therefore, be essential to work closely with local sector partners to build up their absorptive capacity and the skills and expertise to manage these projects.

Calling all Partners to Assist RWSN in its Africa Initiative

To give a new impetus to rural water supply programmes in Africa, RWSN envisages strengthening the Africa operation through the appointment of sector professionals, as it has done in Asia. The urgent and immediate requirement is for two such sector professionals for West Africa and East Africa. The cost of this technical assistance would be USD 300,000 annually.

RWSN is uniquely placed to support Africa's efforts to develop cost-effective water and sanitation technologies. It believes that self reliance and sustainability can be the cornerstones of Africa's mission to achieve universal access to safe water.

The challenge is formidable and it requires the support and co-operation of dedicated partners. RWSN seeks a commitment of funds and technical support from donors and sector partners to help Africa realize its goal of safe water for all - and save the lives of millions of Africans.