Ministers Call For Accelerated Water, Sanitation And Hygiene Management In Africa

<p><em>Ministers Call For Accelerated Water<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the Africa Water and Sanitation Week Conference ended on Friday with the issuance of The Windhoek Multi-Stakeholder Resolutions for Accelerating Water Security and Access to Safely Managed Sanitation and Hygiene in Africa&period; The Conference&comma; according to a release signed by African Media Agency&comma;AMA&comma; and made available to OpenLife&comma; was convened virtually by the African Ministers’ Council on Water &lpar;AMCOW&rpar; and the African Union Commission &lpar;AUC&rpar; and hosted by the Government of Republic of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;google&period;com&sol;">Namibia&period;<&sol;a><br &sol;>&NewLine;The Conference provided a platform to over 3000 registered participants for dialogue and knowledge exchange to advance the water and sanitation agenda in Africa&period; On water governance&comma; the statement calls for the strengthening of policy&comma; legal&comma; institutional and regulatory environments by ensuring context specificity&semi; intra- and inter-sectoral coherency&period; It calls for upholding the principles of universal social inclusion and equity&period; The statement further enjoins governments to raise the profile of social accountability and transparency&period; It notes the vitality of recognizing women and youth as agents for the planning and implementation of the water&comma; sanitation and hygiene agenda in Africa&period; The statement notes that it is imperative to develop the requisite human resources capacity especially among the women and youth for sustainable services delivery&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On finance&comma; the statement calls on governments and the private sector to significantly increase investments in climate-resilient and inclusive water and sanitation services and infrastructure&period; The continued support of development banks and partners is cited as a critical enabler&period; It calls on governments to recommit to both the 2003 PANAFCON commitment of allocating at least 5&percnt; of budgets for water and sanitation&period; It further calls for the e-Thekwini commitment to establish public sector budget allocations of a minimum of 0&period;5&percnt; of GDP for sanitation and hygiene programmes&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On water supply&comma; sanitation and hygiene services governments are called to seize the opportunity of heightened awareness of ensuring water availability&comma; and improved sanitation and hygiene services provision&period; Further&comma; it calls for keeping up the fight against COVID-19&comma; bringing down the over-all disease burden and preventing future pandemics&period; It is imperative that pandemic preparedness and response capabilities are strengthened&comma; and the profile of sanitation and hygiene is raised&period; The statement calls on governments and stakeholders to address the challenges faced in the access of reliable and complete data in the water&comma; sanitation and hygiene&period; The need to rethink how data on hygiene practices is captured and utilized to inform decision-making and improve sanitation and hygiene programming&comma; and delivery has been emphasized&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On water for growth and economic development&comma; governments and partners are encouraged to prioritize water management and services provision as essential ingredients for poverty alleviation and inclusive development&period; Further&comma; it calls for the prioritisation of groundwater resources management as a key element of water resources development&comma; utilisation and management&period; Well-functioning monitoring&comma; assessment and management systems are noted as requisite ingredients to ensure sustainable use of the resources&period; Ministers also resolved to mobilize groundwater networks&comma; actors and institutions towards a common&comma; harmonized&comma; and evidence-based approach to sustainable groundwater use and management&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On water quality and wastewater management&comma; the statement calls for the strengthening of legal&comma; policy and institutional frameworks for the collection and treatment of solid waste and wastewater&period; This&comma; the statement emphasizes&comma; should be to a minimum quality standard before reuse and or safe disposal&period; The statement calls for standardized regulations for wastewater treatment&comma; environmental flows and water quality management in Africa&period; Particular reference should be paid to&colon; i&rpar; arresting and reversing plastic pollution of surface water bodies&semi; and&comma; ii&rpar; preventing of groundwater contamination due to unsafe solid waste and wastewater disposal to the environment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On climate change and resilience&comma; the statement calls attention to the recently published UN&&num;8217&semi;s IPCC Assessment Report and the relevant priorities of the Glasgow Climate Pact&period; These include integrating water and climate action through adaptation and resilience planning at national and regional levels&period; It also involves promoting and financing global water monitoring systems to provide timely information about current and future water availability&period; A call is also made for a proactive approach to flood and drought management centered around monitoring&comma; forecasting&comma; and early warning vulnerability&comma; impact assessment and preparedness&comma; mitigation and response&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Lastly&comma; this Statement also calls for the prioritization of investment for monitoring&comma; evaluation&comma; knowledge&comma; information management and learning to consolidate evidence-based and timely decision making at all levels&period; It further encourages African governments to foster research and application of knowledge and innovations to inform sector interventions targeted at improving water management and sanitation services provision&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;