187 WASH sector experts, from 30 countries, met in Addis Ababa-Ethiopia from 29th July, 2019 to 1st August, 2019 to discuss the issue of access to water and sanitation for the African people on the occasion of the 82nd Session of AfWA Scientific and Technical Council meeting.This all important meeting was under the theme: “Strengthening performance accountability and self-reliance of Water and Sanitation Utilities to improve access for all in Africa”

At the opening of the meeting, Mr. Muktar Ahmed, Managing Director of the Federation of Water Utility companies of Ethiopia expressed his delight in welcoming all delegates to his country and was hopeful the meeting would come out with concrete recommendations with innovative ideas that could help in achieving the sustainable development goals. Mr. sylvain Usher, Executive Director of AfWA, who was next to speak, reminded the gathering that challenges relating to access to water and sanitation services are common to almost all African countries but with varying degree of severity. He therefore called on stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to join forces and work towards finding the right solutions for the continent. “We can do it, we have the knowledge and we have the competence” he affirmed.

The Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council, Dr. Papa Samba, addressing the meeting, indicated that the issue of water and sanitation had for a long time been a very difficult equation to solve in Africa, but thank God, it is no longer the case he quickly added. He urged his colleagues to take action now for future generations. Touching on the theme of the meeting, the Chairman of the STC indicated that the experts do not have any other option than succeed in their quest to ensure access to water and sanitation services “it imperative that we performed well to win the war against access to water and sanitation services”. (…) we need to be accountable and self-reliance to ensure there is a high level of performance, the only way to get us on the right track to achieving goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals and to surmount this great challenge of our century.

Concluding the series of speeches, the representative of the Secretary of State on Water, Irrigation and Energy of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, Mr. Bushira informed that in recent years a lot of progressive efforts have been made to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals relating to the provision of potable water and sanitation services in several African countries, particularly in northern parts of Africa. However, coverage remains weak in sub-Saharan Africa where access to such services over around 60%. He also made a passionate appeal to donors, the private sector and the international community to make more commitments towards the provision of access to a safe and sustainable supply of water and sanitation systems.

The high level panel discussion that followed afforded participants the opportunity to dissect the theme of the meeting which is “strengthening performance accountability and self-reliance of Water and Sanitation Utilities to improve access for all in Africa” in the end, the Ethiopian, Ugandan, Nigerien and Nigerian models presented to the assembly ( summaries of the presentations could be accessed on AfWA’s website (www.afwa-hq.org). It is important to mention that the panel discussion was preceded by the communication by Mr. Olivier Gosso, a Department head at SODECI, concerning the upcoming Dakar Forum especially regarding the participation of AfWA in this great global meeting.

At the end of the high level panel discussion, new technologies for the water, sanitation and environment sector were presented. These included, among other things, water meters from HANGZHOU Liaison Technology Co, waste water treatment technology from Arvind Envisol Plc, capacity building on water and sanitation services and system enhancement from WaterAid, water meter reading and mobile software application from DAFTECH Social ICT solution PLc.

The first day of the meeting ended with the exhibitors’ forum. About 15 hydraulic equipment producers made presentations on their products and invited delegates to visit the exhibition which opened a little bit earlier on the day.

The ensuing days were dedicated to activities of specialized committees. It was for members to assess the implementation status of previous SC recommendations and to review the roadmap received from the STC outfit.

The 82nd meeting of the Scientific and Technical Council ended on1st August, 2019 with the reading of the recommendations. (Available on the AfWA's website).