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In 2020, AfWA will celebrate 40 years of its existence. 40 years of improving the performance of water and sanitation operators in Africa. On the occasion of this anniversary, which coincides with its 20th Congress to be held from 24 to 27 February 2020 in Uganda, the Pan-African Association wants to put the little things into the big picture.

AWARDS TO MEMBERS

AfWA plans to launch competitions to reward (1) the best network of professional women, (2) the best network of young professionals, (3) the innovative project of a young professional, (4) the best water member utility, (5) the best sanitation member utility. The objective is to encourage and promote networks that have distinguished themselves in the implementation of their action plans and have implemented high-impact actions efficiently. For water and sanitation operators, AfWA will reward the best performers according to criteria provided by the specialised committees. The winners of these various competitions will be rewarded at the 40th anniversary gala dinner in Kampala on Tuesday, February 25, 2020.

REFORMS TO BE IMPLEMENTED

At the institutional level, the Executive Board (EB), the Executive Office (EO), the Scientific and Technical Council (STC) and the other AfWA bodies have agreed to develop a new vision and reflection for the future of the Association, in order to meet the objectives and deadlines set by the international community by 2030. The objective is to implement a governance and management reform, and to improve the Association's performance and repositioning on an international scale. In this perspective, a multidisciplinary steering group, called the AfWA40 Taskforce, has been created by the STC with the mission of reflecting on the future of AfWA after 40 years of existence, designing a new vision that can supply the current Strategic Action Plan new ideas, studying and steering change proposals. AFWA OF TOMORROW AfWA has reached a stage of maturity, but also and above all a phase of saturation where it needs to renew itself and open up to other prospects and horizons. It is expected to meet the objectives and deadlines set by the international community by 2030. To this end, it is necessary to initiate a process of in-depth reflection to evolve, monitor and adapt to this global and regional context. AfWA is called upon to make new strategic choices in order to strengthen its position as a key player at the continental and international level, to make structural changes in order to ensure sustainable, efficient and inclusive development; and finally, AfWA should find new take-off mechanisms and drivers to raise itself to a higher level and become a key player in the water and sanitation sector in Africa.

 The African Water Association (AfWA) is strengthening its position as a leading pan-African organization in capacity building for water and sanitation utilities. Indeed, the Global Alliance for Water Operators' Partnerships (GWOPA), a network of partners committed to the mutual assistance of water operators to improve their capacity to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation services for all, has just chosen AfWA as the regional partnership platform for water operators in Africa (WOP) for the implementation of two (2) WOP projects. Projects financed by OFID (The OPEC Fund for International Development) to the tune of $250,000 over a total period of two (2) years, from june 2019 to may 2021, in Malawi and Ethiopia.

The project aims to implement short-term partnerships between water operators to help less performing operators achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and progress towards sustainable access to safe drinking water for all.

The beneficiaries of this project are Blantyre Water Board (BWB) in Blantyre, Malawi, and Wolaita Sodo Town Water supply and Sewerage services enterprise in Sodo, Ethiopia. They were chosen according to development criteria. They will develop a Medium-Term Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and implement short-term thematic action plans that will help them implement measurable improvements in their performance and ability to serve the poorest in terms of drinking water supply. For the implementation of the project, AfWA chosed eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) of Durban as its mentor.

It should be reminded that in order to better share knowledge on successful experiences in water service management, since 2008, AfWA has launched the Water Operators in Africa Partnership Programme (WOP-Africa), which allows exchanges on current best practices in the water sector between the most experienced operators (mentors) and the least efficient (mentees). Thus, over the period 2009-2014, several partnerships have been developed on different themes and in particular on Non-revenue Water (NRW). The satisfactory results of the evaluation of these partnerships’ implementation have enabled AfWA the confidence of this new donor.

Senegalaise des Eaux Rurales (SDER) and Office des Forages Ruraux (OFOR) signed two contracts for Public Service Delegations (DSP) in the northern zone of the Louga and Saint Louis/Matam regions. It was on Monday 08 July 2019 at the Ministerial level in Diamniadio under the chairmanship of the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Serigne Mbaye THIAM, the Chairmen of the Board of Directors (BODs), the General Managers (MDs) of OFOR and SDER as well as many guests.

This Contract, signed for a period of ten years, allows SDER to take charge of the management and operation of drinking water in rural areas of the North zone, which includes the Louga, Saint Louis and Matam regions. In his speech, the MD of SDER, Mor DIOP stated that "The rural world will benefit from better access to water thanks to the installation of a hydraulic network that meets acceptable quality standards".

He also indicated that the same services offered to cities in terms of drinking water distribution will be made available to the rural world so that the populations of these areas can have sufficient and better quality water, in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). In turn, the MD of OFOR, Seyni NDAO, stated that "the signing of this contract is the result of a competitive and transparent process by operators responsible for distributing water to the rural world". To him, "the involvement of the private sector in the management of public water works will lead to professional water management in rural areas and help to ensure better conditions for the supply of water to populations".

As for the two BODs chairmen from OFOR, Paul SENE and SDER Abdoul BALL, they welcomed this signing of the Contract and promised to do everything possible to ensure that the delegations of the Northern zone are references in the sector. The Minister of Water and Sanitation Serigne Mbaye THIAM revealed that "SDER is now in charge of providing water services for nearly 1,500,000 people, which does not take into account pastoral and agricultural uses". He also stated that "the Government’s option is to involve the private sector in the management of water works to improve effectiveness and efficiency".

This Contract, as a reminder, was signed as part of the reform of rural water supply following a call for tenders aimed at improving the quality of service and better meeting the expectations of the Senegalese population and authorities. La Senegalaise des Eaux Rurales, which is a subsidiary of SDE, will operate the largest part of the DRAO Public Service Delegations with 544 works spread over 93 municipalities and more than 2000 polarized villages

On 1st August, 2019, the 82nd Session of AfWA’s Scientific and Technical Council (STC) came to a close. Activities of the Specialized Committees which had started on 30th July, 2019, a day after the opening ceremony continued until this day and afforded delegates the opportunity to deliberate on the roadmap received from the office of the Scientific and Technical Council. Members of this committee were therefore able to assess the implementation level of the previous recommendations of this same committee and came out with future actions. After two days of concertation, the three specialized committees concluded their works with recommendations from each of them. (the SC’s roadmap is available on AfWA’s website). Firstly, the Specialized Committee 1 which is responsible for management, human resources and communication activities of the organization focused its deliberation on AfWA’s publications, competence of women in the sector and the impending elections. The SC1 after its work made a call to AfWA to do more on information gathering initiatives to further enrich the association’s communication and publications. The committee also called for a broader reflection on the level of competence of women in the sector in order to properly plan for the efficient use of funds allotted for the financing of activities of the network. Also, ahead of elections of members to the STC, the SC1 recommended that areas of competence of Specialized Committees as well as job descriptions of various elective positions of the STC be included in AfWA’s Rules of Procedure. Specialized Committee 2, responsible of technical management of water, among other points, deliberated on the International Symposium on Water Quality and unbilled water. With regard to the symposium, SC2 is advocating for the extension of the deadline until October 2019. In this respect, it invites the team in charge of programming and the Executive Directorate to communicate the list of speakers to the Scientific Committee. On the issue of unbilled water, SC2 is requesting AfWA to speed up formalities for the organization of the training on unbilled water and to raise funds through registration fees for the training during at the upcoming Kampala congress. Specialised Committee 3, which is responsible for sanitation issues also met and discussed about the sharing of information and knowledge on water resource preservation. It commits to designing and submitting alerts (message and slogans) on the issue of water resources and climate change for their publications in the AfWA communication channels. It also plans to organize a meeting of African companies that are responsible for the conservation of surface water to come out with comprehensive action plan. Lastly, the SC3 is demanding that a comprehensive report on the RASOP programme be presented to the STC during the Kampala meeting. At the end of the STC meeting, the delegates expressed their joy for participating in the Addis Ababa meeting and were satisfied with the quality of work as well as the work of the speakers. The next STC meeting comes off in November, 2019 in Kampala-Uganda. All the recommendations and communications of the 82nd Session of the Scientific and Technical Committee are available on AfWA’s website: www.afwa-hq.org

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).

The Association of Young Water and Sanitation Professionals (AJPEA), with the collaboration and technical and financial support of WATERWORX, SOMAGEP-SA and SOMAPEP-SA of Mali, organized an awareness creation campaign on subsidized connections from 22nd to 23rd June 2019. It was a two-day awareness campaign in three targeted neighbourhoods namely Niamakoro, Sokorodji and Fitiribougouni all in the Eastern part of Bamako. In the form of caravans and discussion sessions with the local authorities of these three suburbs, Young Water and Sanitation Professionals conveyed messages in Bambara language on subsidized connections.

The objectives of this campaign were to raise awareness among the most disadvantaged people in these vulnerable neighbourhoods about the existence of subsidized potable water connections; to provide information on the steps to be taken to connect to the SOMAGEP-SA network, to raise awareness about the rights and responsibilities of citizens who have access to drinking water (right to drinking water, obligation to pay bills, security of meters, the need not to waste water and not pollute the environment, etc.)

The people reacted very positively to these days of campaign considering the very good reception that these young professionals received. They expressed their gratitude for this programme, and wished that the first batch of meters would be connected in a very short time as the need for potable water is really felt. "No more long distance water fetching for women and children," one of the neighbourhood leaders asserted. Some of them expressed their concerns about the unavailability of the distribution network in some parts in various suburbs of the city, and the lack of land titles for some families. The caravanners reassured them by explaining that as part of the structuring project for the supply of drinking water in Bamako, there is an ongoing works aimed at increasing distribution networks across the capital and its surrounding towns. On the issue of land titles, people were advised to contact the municipalities and urban planning departments that are expected to help them obtain all the administrative and land documents necessary for the application for subsidized connection. On their part, the young professionals expressed hope that the messages communicated will have a positive impact, that the people living in the targeted suburbs had understood that they have an opportunity to grab and above all that they must pay their bills and not waste water.

It should be noted that this first awareness campaign focused on subsidized water connections financed by the African Development Bank.

In the sidelines of the Scientific and Technical Council meeting held from 29th July, to 1st August, 2019 in Addis Ababa-Ethiopia, AfWA delegates, led by the STC chairman and AfWA Executive Director participated in an afforestation campaign initiated by the Ethiopian Government.

On Monday 29th July 2019, a major reforestation operation took place in Ethiopia. According to the Ethiopian government, not less than 350 million trees were planted in the East African country in the Horn on the said day. This is in addition to those planted since the beginning of May as part of an operation called "Green Legacy" whose main objective is to set a good example for the rest of the world to see and to plant no less than 4 billion trees by October!

AfWA members who were holding a meeting in the country decided not to stay out of this eco-citizen action and so after the closing ceremony of the meeting on 1st August 2019, the delegates joined the Mayor of the city of Addis Ababa to plant trees at the site dedicated for this purpose. A gesture hailed by the Honourable Mr. Takele Uma Banti who expressed his gratitude to AfWA for taking part in this campaign.

On his part, Mr. Sylvain Usher, Executive Director of the Association intimated that tree planting contributes to the fight against global warming and forms part of efforts towards the provision of access to water in Africa.

The delegates expressed were delighted to have had the opportunity to contribute the reforestation activities of Ethiopia.

Residents of the Gbamnan Djidan 1 neighbourhood in Yopougon, Abidjan-Côte d'Ivoire can heave a sigh of relief. Indeed, on Tuesday 18 June 2019, Dji Ni Sii SARL (DNS), a social enterprisepartnering with the NGO Eau et Vie Côte d'Ivoire (EVCI), inaugurated a water network in this precarious district of Côte d'Ivoire's largest municipality. About 2500 inhabitants or 600 households can now benefit from running water at home, all of which aims to improve the living conditions of these populations, 95% of whom had access to water through the network of illegal dealers, and to reduce the chore of carrying water for the family, which is most often assigned to women.

The Technical Adviser to the Minister of Hydraulics, Mr. Antoine Djaa chaired the ceremony, during which he welcomed and encouraged the NGO Eau et vie Côte d'Ivoire and DNS for this initiative addressing the issue of providing high-quality and legal drinking water to people living in precarious urban neighbourhoods. He invited the NGO to extend its activities to other districts.

The populations did not hide their joy in front of this project which comes to improve their living conditions. "The drudgery of water collection is over," said the Neighbourhood Chief, Mr. Meite, speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries. "Your action will help reduce the water fraud which escalated in this neighbourhood as a result of non- connection to the public water supply network," he continued.

For Mrs. Sophie de la Bassetière, Head of the social enterprise, DNS works as a local operator acting in the heart of precarious neighbourhoods to provide residents with fundamental services, such as drinking water at home at costs adapted to the local context, in partnership with the National Drinking Water Office (ONEP) and Cote d’Ivoire Water Distribution Company (SODECI).