The African Water Association’s Ordinary General Assembly held by videoconference on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 gave a go ahead to the Executive Board to change the Association name by adding the word sanitation. The name was changed from African Water Association (AfWA) to African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWASA), taking into consideration the "sanitation" component of the Association's mission.

The idea of changing the name was first officially raised in Kampala, Uganda, during AfWA 20^th Congress, by Mr. Lansana Gagny Sakho, then Managing Director of ONAS (Sanitation Corporation of SENEGAL). This is not only to take into consideration in a more visible way, the actors of sanitation who are part of the Association, but also the fact that in its development, AfWA has made sanitation a significant pillar of its operations.

Thus, this request, sent to Mr. Sylvain Usher, Executive Director of the Association, was brought before the Scientific and Technical Council (STC) which, judging its appropriateness, proposed 3 names to the Governance Committee which in turn, confirming the appropriateness of the change, considered the question of the new name by analyzing the 3 proposals made by the STC and selecting the most relevant one that it submitted to the Executive Board for validation. Finally, the last step was the approval by the Ordinary General Assembly, which was done on March 31.

It should be noted that although the Ordinary General Assembly approved the name African Water and Sanitation Association, it will still be necessary to wait a few months for its implementation. Indeed, AfWA being recognized as an International Organization, such a change implies legal and administrative procedures, as well as the modification of the visual identity...

But in the meantime, the sanitation actors, members of AfWA, are delighted with this name change which gives them a real identity and strengthens their feeling of belonging to the Association.