BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION TO DONATE 6 MILLION DOLLARS FOR WATER AND SANITATION IN AFRICA

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $6 million to the African Water Facility, to support the operationalization of the Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative (AUSII), a new financing window dedicated to improving sanitation in African urban cities.

In a statement, it was noted that the African Water Facility, a special project preparation fund established as an initiative of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), is hosted and managed by the African Development Bank.

The statement also noted that the Africa Urban Sanitation Investment Initiative would come as a response to improve urban access to safely managed sanitation in Africa, which is rapidly urbanizing at a present rate of 47 percent.

The statement remarked that across the continent, the percentage of the population with access to at least basic sanitation is below 45 percent, and around 10 percent of urban premises are served by sewerage systems, with 90 percent served by non-sewered sanitation.

The statement further explained that the initiative would aim to respond to this challenge by using innovative financing approaches to support the deployment of climate resilient and inclusive urban sanitation services including the City-wide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) approach, which promotes tailored sanitation solutions such as onsite, and decentralized sanitation for cities and neighborhoods.

The statement revealed that the initiative would support African governments, utilities, municipal authorities, private sector, and civil societies to create and scale access to sanitation that is safe and sustainable with special consideration for the urban poor.