Africa: Corruption in Water Sector Hinders Development

23 JULY 2016, Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam). By Lydia Shekighenda German - based Water Integrity Network (WIN) has called upon African governments to tackle corruption in water sector to ensure that the resources allocated are efficiently utilised to transform it. WIN Executive Director, Mr Frank van der Valk told the Daily News in Dar es Salaam yesterday on the sideline of the 6th Africa Water Week that a lot of resources are lost in the sector or used for wrong purposes due to corruption. "If Africa wants to achieve the SDGs, particularly goal number six, it is crucial to reduce corruption in the water sector," Mr Valk said. He observed that if efficiency in the water sector increases by reducing corruption, it will be much easier for African countries to achieve the SDGs. Mr Valk however noted that there were many other factors which needed to be addressed in order to transform the water sector, such as improvement of governance and management of water sector which needs much improvement since it has been a bottleneck in transforming the sector. Mr Valk also stressed the need of building sufficient capacity throughout institutions and civil societies which is essential for better work on water. Expounding further, he said for African countries to address water problems which have been facing its people for a long time, it was crucial to involve communities to express their needs and wishes and present them to the government. Commenting on the support by development partners, he said African countries have been getting a lot of support from donors for water sector. He however challenged Africa to consider how it can generate sufficient financial resources to cover the water needs. "The solution to water problems in Africa will only be sustainable if the continent will find its own sustainable financing mechanisms," Mr Valk said. On his part, Sokoine University of Agriculture Lecturer from the Environmental Department, Mr Makarius Lalika said that access to water and sanitation is still the biggest challenge in Africa. Mr Lalika said that the situation is highly contributed by poverty and lack of awareness among the communities. He said if Africa wants to achieve SDGs particularly number six, it should address poverty from the household level. "Water and sanitation is still the biggest challenge in Africa, thus the governments need to allocate more resources to address the problems. He however called upon the Tanzanian government to address poverty from the household level to enable people to have access to clean water. "Some people in our country use unsafe water, not because of lack of awareness but because of poverty, thus if this problem is addressed, even the number of people using unsafe water will decrease," he said. Commenting on the support by development partners, he said African countries should find its own financial sources to fund water projects. "The support by donors is crucial, but it should be supplement to the efforts done by our governments," he said

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201607250086.html

Wastewater Management

 More than 100 professionals and decision-makers from different disciplines gathered in Dar es Salaam over the weekend to deliberate on Global Water Pathogen Project (GWPP). GWPP, a product of UN Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), aims to develop knowledge resources to reduce deaths linked to waste pathogens and the lack of safe drinking water and basic sanitation. The workshop, with the theme "Productive Wastewater and Excreta Management in Africa", was officiated by Dr George Lugomela on behalf of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Eng. Mbogo Futakamba. In his address, Eng Futakamba urged participants to look at the common goal in addressing challenges caused by the inadequate access to water, sanitation and poverty. He also called for a hard work on the project to ensure there is improvement in knowledge on sanitation technologies. "The regional focus of today's workshop is of particular relevance in knowing that Africa is among the world's regions that have the lowest level of sanitation coverage," he said. He said that Africa is a continent with the largest number of countries where less than half of the population has access to improved sanitation, citing Tanzania as an example. He said although 93 per cent of households in the country had a latrine by 2008, only 24 per cent of Tanzanians had access to improved sanitation. "Despite some improvement in the past decade, 9 per cent of children under five and 6 per cent adults die due to diarrhoea," Eng Futakamba said. The workshop, according to UNESCO Programme Specialist, Alexandros Makarigakis, on top of raising the awareness of communities of stakeholders on the GWPP resources, was also aimed to gather facts to help build a new benchmark on the water and sanitation targets. The project, implemented by the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme in partnership with Michigan State University, ends next year after creating the current benchmark reference work on water and related disease risks and interventions. Participants who were drawn from different institutions discussed challenges related to wastewater and excreta management and the solutions available. Participants had a chance to acquaint themselves with the GWPP resource to help improve efficiency. The GWPP, which involves over 110 experts from 41 countries, is a grand effort to compile updated information on pathogens in sewage and water, and the tools available to destroy them.

By Beda Msimbe
At http://allafrica.com/stories/201607180512.html