World Water Week is the leading conference on global water issues and in 2021 it will be held as a digital event 23-27 August. The Week attracts participants from more than 130 countries and with many different professional backgrounds. World Water Week is a non-profit event, co-created together with leading organizations. It offers an unusual mix of participants and perspectives, with sessions on a broad array of water-related topics, ranging from food security and health, to agriculture, technology, biodiversity, and the climate crisis.

With a focus on collaboration and shared learning, World Water Week is an important catalyst for change and attracts leading researchers, decision-makers, business representatives, NGOs, students, and international organizations. We try to create a welcoming and informal atmosphere where it is easy toget to know people and collaborate on solving real-world problems. The Week attracts many decision-makers who come here to get new inspiration and form alliances that can influence other international processes such as the global climate talks. Read more

The 21st AfWA International Congress and Exhibition will be held in February 2023 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

More details to be red soon.

Pan-African city-wide inclusive sanitation and non-revenue water reduction programs have been launched on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 in Chad by the African Water Association (AfWA).

Four cities have been chosen for the implementation of these programs in Chad. They are N'Djamena, Kelo, Moundou and Koumra.

The kick-off meeting took place in the presence of the Mayor of N'Djamena, the General Director of the Ministry of Water, the Deputy Managing Director of the Chadian Water Company (STE), the Director of programs of AfWA and the Mayors of the other three beneficiary towns.

The Deputy General Manager of STE, Oumar Ousmane Brahim, said that this project is a major capacity building tool in sub-Saharan Africa. It involves 21 companies from 19 African countries for three years.

The project will support the individual Non Revenue Water reduction program of at least four companies, including STE, enabling it to save money and provide access to clean water to at least three million people.

"Our goal is to achieve universal sanitation for the entire population of the targeted cities, taking into account the safe management of human waste and the efficient recovery of the resources generated," he said.

The Director of Programs of AfWA, Dr. Simeon Kenfack, for his part, praised the benefits of the project and assured the support of the association for a better world.

Computers and Internet access modems were given to the mayors of the cities targeted by the project.

Click here to read more: https://www.alwihdainfo.com/Tchad-des-programmes-d-assainissement-total-et-inclusif-lances-pour-4-villes_a105298.html?fbclid=IwAR3SxC9dIdxQu5o7zDAGDHo25qQD8oEchjPCboqBkk4AGU2S6q9Z0L-IfgU

AfWA continues the implementation of its Capacity Building Programme on inclusive sanitation in African cities.

On Thursday 24th June, Dr Mbaye MBEGUERE and Gilles DJAGOUN, both AfWA Senior Coordinators, respectively in charge of the sanitation and water programmes, and Eric Zoma, training coordinator from CEMEAU, Burkina Faso (as Regional Implementing Partner), were in Kumasi, Ghana, for the kick-off workshop of AfWA capacity building programme on citywide inclusive sanitation. Three cities in Ghana are involved in this programme, namely Kumasi, Accra and Takoradi. This initiative was highly praised by the highest authorities in charge of sanitation in the country, as well as by the leaders of the cities concerned.

The workshop started with the different speeches. First, Madam Faustina Boachie, on behalf of the Managing Director of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWLC) said that Ghana’s aspiration for access to safe potable water, sanitation and hygiene is universal, though Ghana, like most countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa are facing severe challenges. She underscored the importance of the Citywide Inclusive Sanitation project (SAO-CWIS): “This project will assist us in setting out the right path for investing in governance, sustainable funding models, capacity development and innovation”.

Following Madam Faustina, Mr. Kwadwo Akuamoah-Boateng, the Metropolitan Coordinating Director, on behalf of the Metropolitan Chief Executive (Mayor) of Kumasi acknowledged the burden of to the Kumasi Metropolis and the nation at large - from attitudinal change, to the provision of facilities and safe disposal of solid and liquid wastes. It’s the reason why he  said ‘’The KMA, and for that matter Kumasi is proud of AfWA for the concern shown in trying to help them address the sanitation crises in Ghana’s major cities”

Finally, on behalf of the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr. Kweku Quansah, Senior Program Officer for Sanitation at the Ministry thanked AfWA for extending its support to three cities in Ghana. He stressed that the Ministry consider it a very crucial part of its agenda to achieve universal access to sanitation for its people by 2030, and assured government’s willingness and commitment to providing leadership to enable all stakeholders play their respective roles for the achievement of the collective objectives.

Before the official launch, four technical presentations on the State of Sanitation in Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi, on SAO-CWIS, on CEMEAU and on technical Assistance Hub for City Wide Sanitation in Africa, were delivered to participants.

The kick-off workshop finally allowed participants to better understand (1) the SAO-Project, including its objectives, modus operandi and their own roles and responsibilities, (2) the technical assistant hub, including its objectives, activities and how they can access its services, (3) the role of the Regional Implementing Partner, and regarding the municipalities, the value and benefits of joining AfWA as members.

It should be noted that AfWA Capacity building program on citywide inclusive sanitation is funded by USAID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and concerns 52 cities from the following 14 countries Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, DRC, Sierra Leone, Togo and Zambia.

The kick-off workshop in Ghana was followed on 29 June by the one of DRC.

Date: July 13, 2021

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. GMT

Event summary 

The international calendar is punctuated every three years by the World Water Forum. An event focusing on perceived issues surrounding water. The 9^th World Water Forum organized jointly by Senegal and the World Water Council, under the theme of "Water Security for Peace and Development", will take place in Dakar from 21 to 26 March 2022. 

It will be a unique platform where the water community and key decision makers can collaborate and make long-term progress on global water challenges. This webinar will present the latest information on the Forum preparatory processes, including the pilot, action and consultative groups work to date.  Information on how to participate in the event will be shared
 

Event description 

During this event, the co-organizers of the 9^th World Water Forum will present the progress of the preparation of the Forum, with a particular focus on the results of the working groups, practical information on the mobilization of stakeholders, the Framework of the Political Process’ Segments, the provisional program as well as logistical information, such as registrations, international and local transports, accommodation, and health precautions. 
 

Everyone is invited to take part in this webinar, so that together we can succeed in making the 9^th World Water Forum a tangible "Forum of Responses" to the water challenges for people and nature, today and tomorrow.

Participate in the event

The African Water Association (AfWA), in partnership with the Société des Eaux de Guinée (SEG), proceeded this Wednesday, May 19, 2021, to the launch of its project called « Capacity building in inclusive sanitation at the African city level SAO-CWIS ». The kick-off of this project was attended by the Mayors of the 5 municipalities of Conakry, the managing director of SEG, Experts from Senegal and Burkina Faso and representatives of the Guinean cities concerned, Kindia, Labé and Kankan, noted Guineematin.com through one of its reporters. (…)

In this country, this project should affect the special zone of Conakry and the cities of Kankan, Labé and Kindia. Moreover, this project comes to Guinea at a time when the country is in urgent need of quality service in water treatment and sanitation. That is why, in his speech, Mamadou Diouldé Diallo, General Secretary of the Ministry of Hydraulics, promised that Guinea will do everything possible to ensure the success of this project.

Mamadou Diouldé Diallo, General Secretary of the Ministry of Hydraulics,

"It is with great pleasure that we receive in the context of the launch of the project African Association of Water and Sanitation at the city level, these eminent personalities here. Access to sanitation services is one of the major challenges for most African countries, including Guinea. The quality and coverage of services by sanitation operators are sometimes inadequate due to several factors, including lack of financial resources for major investments. The City-wide Inclusive Sanitation project will enable the cities of Conakry, Kindia, Labé and Kankan to benefit from perfectly adequate sanitation services. We would like, once again, through our illustrious guests of the AfWSA here present, to thank this association and its technical and financial partners for the choice made on the 4 cities of the Republic of Guinea. And we assure them of our availability to accompany the implementation of this important project," said Mamadou Diouldé Diallo, before declaring open the workshop to launch the work of this project.

For his part, Dr. Mbaye Mbéguéré, AfWSA's Senior Sanitation Program Coordinator in charge of the SAO-CWIS program, gave the reasons that led to the inclusion of Guinea in this project.

« Guinea, through the Société des Eaux de Guinée, is one of the major actors of the AfWSA. The SEG is one of the founding members of the AfWA and is one of the most active members who regularly participate in the congresses and scientific councils organized by our association. This is simply to say that when an opportunity as important as improving sanitation presents itself, Guinea cannot be left behind. Note that, like other countries, sanitation is in urgent need in Guinea. It is also clear that the country's authorities have made sanitation a top priority. This explains why Guinea is one of the major targets of AfWSA. And the objective is to accompany the water and sanitation Utilities as well as the municipalities in charge of water and sanitation in Africa," said Dr. Mbaye Mbéguéré. Present at the launch of this project, the mayor of the town of Ratoma took the opportunity to ask Guineans to use water rationally in their households.

Issa Soumah, the mayor of the town of Ratoma

« It is something that is interesting because it concerns Guinea and the Guineans. When we talk about sanitation problems, when we talk about water problems, it should interest everyone. That's why I was motivated to come to the workshop to find out what this is all about. What we can do is to ask people to use water rationally. Because we have all the possibilities that God has given us, but we do not have the means to react accordingly. If we maintain our environment well, we will even be able to sell water to other countries next door," said Issa Soumah.

For his part, Ousmane Diallo, president of the Association of Drainers of Guinea, welcomed the association of private operators in the launch of this project.

Diallo Ousmane, president of the Association of Drainers of Guinea

« I think that the workshop on capacity building for sanitation is a very good start for us private operators. Because we occupy the first link in the value chain of sanitation and autonomy. We are virtually a friend to all households. So, we are the ones who deploy the vacuum truck in households that certainly have septic tanks. We are really concerned with this workshop," he concluded.

Adjamah Affo Boni, The Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Water and Village Hydraulics launched on Friday 21 May 2021 in Lomé, the capacity building project for municipalities in total and inclusive sanitation (SAO-CWIS and Africap) of the African Water Association (AfWA). A project that aims to support African cities in improving their sanitation systems including Faecal Sludge Management (FSM).
In Togo, the three (3) municipalities (Golfe 5, Ogou 1 and Tchaoudjo1) selected for the project with the help of the Togolaise des Eaux (TdE) will have to improve their sanitation infrastructures and reinforce the social inclusion of their populations..
The launch of the project to strengthen the capacities of communes in total and inclusive sanitation is a step in the search for solutions to ensure better access to sanitation infrastructures throughout the country," said Amah Affo Boni, Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Water and Village Hydraulics.

In detail, the project, which includes 14 countries with a total of 52 cities, will enable effective and efficient management of human waste and efficient recovery of the resources generated throughout the sanitation chain. This will be achieved through a variety of autonomous or collective technical solutions.
"For an effective start of the activities of this project in the countries, a launching workshop is necessary in order to identify the key actors of sanitation at all levels (national, regional, communal), to present clearly to the stakeholders the project in all its components and articulations by making apparent the levels of involvement of each actor, to present and discuss the short and medium term action plan of the project and to discuss and agree on the commitments of the parties", detailed Djagoun Gilles, representative of AfWA

On this occasion, Kossi Aboka, Mayor of the Gulf 5 Municipality, invited the population to be more civic-minded and to better manage sanitation facilities in the country

The participation of the TDE
Indeed, for years and at the initiative of the Government, the Togolaise des Eaux (TdE) has been working for access to drinking water for all.

According to Gbati Yawanke Wake, Director of TdE, the company has considerably strengthened its presence in the country by opening several agencies, which has had a positive impact on access to drinking water in urban areas.

Beyond that, huge investments are also being made to increase production and extend the water supply network in several urban localities.

Let's remember that, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6, Togo has set itself the objective of guaranteeing its populations qualitative and quantitative access to drinking water by 2030.

Finally, it should be noted that, like Togo, 13 other African countries are benefiting from AfWA's Total and Inclusive Sanitation Capacity Building Project (SAO-CWIS and Africap), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID.

The first virtual conference, AfWA & WASH Media, organised by the African Water Association (AfWA) took place on May 26, 2021 under the theme: " challenges on water quality in Africa: what are AfWA’s contributions for a sustainable monitoring and control of water quality?”

Moderated by Dr. Simeon Kenfack, The  Director of Programmes of AfWA, the conference, whose primary target was media professionals, was attended by about 120 people from 33 countries around the world. The objective was to strengthen the participants' knowledge on the issue of water quality, raise awareness of AfWA and share lessons learnt in the implementation of AfWA's water quality projects.

In developing the theme, Mr. François Van Wyk, Water Quality Expert at Rand Water, South Africa, presented the best practices on water quality monitoring and control from the catchment until the drinking water treatment plant.

Then Ms. Laila Laraki, Head of the Water Quality Monitoring Division at the National office for electricity and drinking water (ONEE) in Morocco, talked about the best practices used in Morocco through ONEE to ensure that drinking water from the treatment plant till the household tap is of safe quality.

To close the presentations, Ms. Aude Tapsoba, Field Application Specialist at Merck, spoke about international standards and norms of water quality control.

Out of the learning session, four panelists made of representative of mentors, mentees of collaborative implementing partners of the AfWA water quality program shared to the public, their experience and lessons learnt from their involvement in the AfWA program. They were Dr. Irene Nabusuga, National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Uganda; Mr. YAMEOGO Olivier, Chief of the Department of the central laboratory of water quality at Burkina Faso National office of water and sanitation (ONEA); Mr. Oscar VIVIER, Deputy Director of Water Quality at the Guinea Water Utility (SEG) and Mr. Coulibaly Bakary, Director General of Enval SA; Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

The conference ended on a note of overall satisfaction from the participants, who said they had learned a lot from the operators' efforts to provide quality water to the population.

The next AfWA webinar will take place on 22 July 2021 and will focus on the African Water Academy.