By Fara Ndiaye, Deputy Executive Director, Speak Up Africa
The recent African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWASA) Congress in Kampala brought together over 2,000 stakeholders from across the continent. While such gatherings are important, they highlight an uncomfortable truth: Africa doesn’t need more conferences about water and sanitation – it needs coordinated action to deliver on existing commitments.
The statistics tell a stark story. Some 418 million Africans lack safe drinking water, and 779 million remain without basic sanitation. According to UNICEF, if current trends continue, very few African Union member states will achieve universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation, or hygiene services by 2030. With just six years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we must move beyond dialogue to tangible progress.
Climate change continues to strain our water resources through droughts, floods, and saltwater intrusion. Regional conflicts damage infrastructure and displace millions, leaving refugee camps without reliable access to water and sanitation. Meanwhile, declining funding threatens to limit governments’ ability to expand and maintain essential services.
Yet what we witnessed in Kampala offers glimpses of how we can break through these challenges – not through grand declarations, but through practical collaboration that crosses traditional boundaries. A new regional platform established by sanitation directorates from Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso focuses on delivering existing commitments through knowledge-sharing, an aligned vision, and coordinated action plans. This initiative demonstrates how regional cooperation can accelerate progress toward SDG 6 through solutions tailored to West Africa’s challenges. The Congress highlighted the power of intergenerational collaboration. Young professionals are revolutionizing service delivery through mobile payment systems and real-time monitoring tools, while seasoned experts provide crucial insights into community dynamics and infrastructure maintenance. Young leaders are not just the future of our sector – they are actively shaping its present, bringing fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to longstanding challenges. Traditional water and sanitation approaches, built on decades of experience, sometimes struggle to incorporate new technologies and service models. Meanwhile, young professionals, armed with fresh ideas, often lack the institutional knowledge needed for lasting change. When these perspectives merge, as seen in several Congress sessions, they create solutions that are both innovative and grounded in practical reality.
To achieve universal access to water and sanitation, governments must adopt integrated infrastructure planning, ensuring holistic and gender-inclusive solutions that prioritize vulnerable populations. Strengthening resource management through scientific research, and transboundary cooperation is essential, alongside innovative financing mechanisms that blend public and private investments to sustain long-term operations. Effective implementation requires coordinated governance, technical training, and community-based monitoring, ensuring commitments translate into tangible improvements.
Breaking down silos that hamper progress is essential. Water and sanitation challenges don’t respect administrative boundaries, and neither should solutions. Permanent platforms for knowledge-sharing and institutionalized mentorship programs can bridge expertise gaps between experienced professionals and emerging leaders.
Additionally, community engagement must be reimagined. Successful projects demonstrate that empowering communities to shape and maintain water and sanitation services leads to more sustainable solutions.
Finally, new financing mechanisms must blend public funds, private investment, and development aid. Africa’s water and sanitation funding gap is too large for any single source to address. Creative financial solutions, coupled with improved governance and accountability, are essential for scaling successful initiatives.
The path forward requires us to be both ambitious and practical. We must focus on what works, learn from failures, and build on successful models rather than constantly reinventing the wheel. From strengthening governance to embracing climate-resilient infrastructure, the tools for transformation are within reach. What’s needed now is the political will and coordinated action to deploy them effectively.
The time for endless dialogue is over. Our communities need clean water and dignified sanitation today, not more promises about tomorrow. Through focused collaboration and sustained action, we can turn existing commitments into reality and create a water-secure future for all Africans. This isn’t just an aspiration – it’s an imperative we cannot afford to ignore.