1st Working Session towards attaining Water and Sanitation Millenium Development Goals in 14 African National Associations of Local Government
2010/09/10

The United Cities and Local Governments for Africa (UCLGA) in partnership with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability – Africa held the first UCLGA Focal Point Network (FPN) working session at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) offices in Midrand, Johannesburg, from 16-19 August 2010, hosted by the Development Bank of Southern Africa at the Vulindlela Academy. As part of the European Commission (EC) funded project entitled Local Initiatives in Promotion of the Attainment of the Water and Sanitation Millennium Development Goals representatives from 14 National Associations of Local Government in Africa were brought together in a working session. These included: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Since the agreement of world leaders to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, progress in relation to achieving the MDG7 target to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, seems insufficient. The key role of local government in sustainable delivery of water and sanitation services, especially at the local community level, is not generally recognized at the different spheres of government. At the UCLGA’s 1st Ordinary Congress held in Accra in July 2008, key water and sanitation resolutions proposed by national associations of local government across the African continent in an effort to raise the profile of local governments and their role in water and sanitation service delivery, were passed and they provided the basis for this project.

The overarching objective of this project is to contribute towards the attainment of water and sanitation MDGs within the participating countries. The specific goal of the project is to ensure that the role of local authorities in the delivery of the water and sanitation MDGs is recognized, and to enhance the capacity of local authorities to fulfill that role through sharing of knowledge and innovative practices.

The 1st FPN working session provided a platform for the participants to contribute to the project deliverables that have been developed to date. These include the baseline study, local planning paper and advocacy strategy. The working session also provided an opportunity for participants to network, especially the representatives of the national associations of local government, and to explore potential interactions with key partners in order to add value to in-country efforts.  

It is anticipated that this timely project (ahead of the MDG target date of 2015) will provide the necessary capacity to acceleration the actions of local government  actors at all spheres (local, national, regional and continental) towards the rapid attainment of the Water and Sanitation Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), within the 15 participating countries.

The participating national associations will be encouraged to adopt and institutionalise water and sanitation issues within their organizational plans. The progress and outcomes of this project will be actively promoted and disseminated by the task team (ICLEI and UCLGA) through their respective regional and global forums, networks and associations. Lobbying and advocacy activities will include in-country activities as well as the Stockholm Water Week during 5-11 September 2010 and the upcoming African Water Week in November 2010.