There are a number of reasons as to why Africa lags behind in access to water and sanitation, says National Coordinator for NEWSAN (Nigeria) and Chairperson of the Africa Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW), Leo Atakpu.

One of these reasons is regional governments’ failure to deliver essential services to their citizens. This is characterised by bad governance practices which are not confined to the water and sanitation sector.

According to Atakpu, large sums of money which has been allocated to the water sector are often misappropriated or stolen through corrupt practices. This is a major problem in most of sub-Saharan Africa. Atakpu says unless this problem is tackled head on, providing adequate water and sanitation to the region’s poor will remain a pipe dream.

Another reason is a lack of political commitment. Atakpu believes that governments, civil society and donors, as key stakeholders, have not demonstrated sufficient commitment to sanitation as evidenced by the meagre priority assigned to the issue in most poverty reduction strategies and national budgets.

“It is really shocking that schools and health centres are still built without toilets; that access to toilets is so far behind access to water supply; and that sanitation has failed to be translated from commitments into national policy and budget lines in most countries,” he says.

However, he says there is some evidence that this is slowly changing at higher levels of policymaking, for example from the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW).

Positive examples

Despite the problems, Atakpu says there are also positive examples of local commitment to improved sanitation. These include:

• the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, which is spearheading an initiative to roll out efficient support for rural sanitation through health extension workers
• the Nigerian government and UNICEF’s work with the Society for Water and Sanitation (NEWSAN), under the aegis of the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS), to renew its approach to sanitation through piloting and implementing new community-led approaches

Atakpu says countries such as Rwanda remain leading examples for the region. He points out a need for African policy makers and actors to replicate what works in Rwanda in other countries using local technologies.

(Source: Think Africa Press)