The  22^nd AfWASA International Congress and Exhibition came to a close on February 20, 2025 in Kampala, with major commitments aimed at strengthening the resilience of Africa's water and sanitation sector. The event brought together 2,200 participants from 67 countries, with the participation of 116 exhibiting companies and 28 sponsors.

The congress program included 4 high-level dialogues, 58 sessions and 300 presentations covering various aspects of the water and sanitation sector. Discussions focused on six priority tracks, resulting in the following resolutions presented at the closing ceremony by Dr Rosse Kaggwa, Chair of the Congress Program Committee:

CLIMATE CHANGE AND INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Effectively incorporate climate change resilient options into the design development and operation of water and sanitation infrastructure

Promote equitable and sustainable use of water resources

Scale environment and catchment protection and restoration interventions

WATER MANAGEMENT

Strengthen utility management across all segments, including urban, rural poor and other vulnerable communities

Adopt innovative and appropriate management frameworks to maintain high functionality and improve the sustainability of water supply schemes and systems

And under Amcow, we are committed to the post Africa water vision for 2025 and to the achievement of agenda 2063

SANITATION MANAGEMENT

Accelerate sanitation access and coverage through innovative financing mechanisms, appropriate technology adoption and complementary partnerships and collaborations

Strengthen sanitation information management to support planning resource mobilization management and accountability for sanitation service delivery

And lastly, scale fecal sludge treatment facilities in view of the significant non-sewage sanitation segment

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATION AND PARTNERSHIPS

The newly established African water and sanitation Academy here in Uganda, should ensure relevant equitable and cost-effective capacity building programs for the member and partnering utilities

Strengthen the existing partnerships and collaborations and promote well-designed new partnerships and collaborations so as to maximize impact in relation to utility performance, service delivery, an increased service coverage

GOVERNANCE AND FINANCING

Improve utility performance and operational efficiency as one of the measures to reduce the financing gaps

Take advantage and make use of the financing products offered by financiers and development Partners

Explore financing through borrowing from the domestic financial markets in view of the advantages related to this option. And in that, we’re trying to move our way from dependency on donor funding

Effectively engaged stakeholders, so to have more enabling regulatory environments to support implementation of better cost-effective if cost-efficient reflective tariffs

Walk towards and maybe we had run towards reduction independence on aid

Work towards establishing and maintaining adaptive, accountable and transformational leadership in all utilities and the water and sanitation sector at large

RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY AN INNOVATION

Commit investments into research and innovation

Embrace digital transformations in the utility processes based on the actual utility needs and sector needs. And adopt, “A do it yourself policy”

The 22^nd AfWASA International Congress and Exhibition ended on a note of hope and determination, with the aim of making water and sanitation an effective right for all in Africa. AfWASA and its partners are committed to implementing these resolutions by fostering ongoing dialogue between governments, operators, financial partners and civil society. They look forward to meeting again in February 2026, at the 23^rd Congress, to be held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to assess progress and further develop strategies to ensure universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Read the full declaration here