After a long period of lethargy due to the sudden death of its Coordinator, late Professor Ives Magloire KENGNE, the activities of the AfWA Sanitation program, and in particular the SAO-CWIS project (Capacity Building Project for AfWA and Operators for the Implementation of Inclusive Sanitation in African Cities) are resuming back with the new Coordinator, Dr. Mbaye MBEGUERE.

Thus, for an effective start of the activities of this program, a launching workshop will be held in May in the African beneficiary countries. The purpose of this workshop is to identify the key sanitation actors in the countries targeted; to clearly present to the main components of the project and expectations to those actor; to present and discuss the short and mid-term action plan of the project; and to agree on the commitments of the parties involved (AfWA, Regional Implementing Partners, beneficiaries, mentors, other key actors).

The AfWA Sanitation Program is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the SAO-CWIS project and the AfriCap project respectively. These projects aim to strengthen the capacity of AfWA itself as well as public and private sanitation operators to deliver inclusive urban sanitation services. This will be done through peer-to-peer learning partnerships, trainings, networking and advocacy so that more than ten million people in thirty cities in Sub-Saharan Africa will have access to adequate and sustainable sanitation. The beneficiary countries of this project are: Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, DRC, Sierra Leone, Togo and Zambia.

Through the implementation of this program, AfWA intends to contribute to the improvement of the worrying situation of access to adequate sanitation services in African cities.