Under the theme “Building Partnerships for Water in Africa,” the African Development Bank (AfDB) brought together 17 African Water Ministers from the Executive Council of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) and more than 400 water sector practitioners from over 60 countries recently to discuss issues of water security and sanitation, as well as to promote water resources development in Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Delegates at the AfDB Group Water Week, which met from 1-3 July 2004 in Tunis, recognized, inter alia, the need to: decentralize rural water supplies and sanitation services; invest in locally appropriate and affordable water technologies; include private sector and multistakeholder partnerships; and acknowledge the rights of the poor to water.
During the week, the Bank launched its Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI), targeting $15 billion of investment in the water and sanitation sector by 2015, with the view to accelerating access to water supply and sanitation services in rural Africa to reach 66% access to water supply and sanitation by the year 2010 and 80% by 2015. The AfDB Group also launched the African Water Facility, with the aim of generating financial resources towards achieving the MDGs and the African Water Vision. Through its RWSSI, the Bank is trying to engage all stakeholders and regional member countries to translate the concepts and implementation framework of its initiative into actions, as well as include MDG-based poverty reduction strategies for national investment planning. It was recommended that global level MDG targets should be translated into national and district level targets with the creation of national task forces to coordinate MDG activities in each country, and political commitments from governments must include the increased mobilization of domestic resources in order to attain the MDGs. More information is available at: http://www.afdb.org/water/water_week_newsupdate.htm