EU raises profile of African sanitation
27 October 2008
In
this, the International Year of Sanitation, a group that is co-chaired by DFID
is helping to improve water and sanitation throughout Africa by strengthening
the links between African countries and the European Union.
Through a number of key meetings, the EU Water Initiative-Africa Working Group has brought about policy dialogue at the highest level and proved crucial in the development of an Africa EU Statement on Sanitation.
This Statement, which was featured at the major United Nations meeting in New York on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) last month, represents a solid basis from which African and European countries can work together to achieve progress on water and sanitation.
The MDGs on water and sanitation are seriously off-track. Almost 900 million people are without safe drinking water and 2.5 billion people still lack access to basic sanitation. Halving these figures by 2015 will require a major international effort.
September's New York summit, which was convened to accelerate progress on the MDGs, included a side-event in which world leaders and major development figures discussed the global sanitation system. The Africa EU Statement served as a basis for these discussions.
Earlier
this year New York had played host to the unveiling of the Africa EU Statement,
at May's Review Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable
Development. The Statement itself was the product of close collaboration between
the UK and France, with major input from the African Ministers’ Council on
Water’s Technical Advisory Committee (AMCOW-TAC).
The Statement was specifically mentioned in the Declaration on Water and Sanitation made by the Africa Union Heads of State at their meeting in Egypt in July 2008. This followed participation by the UK, France and Germany in AMCOW meetings in Cairo and the inclusion of the Statement in the proposals of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water (UNSGAB).
Representing a consistent message on sanitation, the Statement should help both African and European states to implement national plans aimed at addressing this crucial development issue. Great progress has been made by the EU Water Initiative-Africa Working Group in arriving at this message.
However, there is still scope for strengthening the partnership between Africa and the EU - to deliver the water and sanitation MDGs, improve the management of water resources to accelerate economic growth, and respond to the challenges of climate change.
