REGIONAL COOPERATION AND TRANS-BOUNDARY WATER BASIN ORGANIZATIONS: There have been great efforts to establish new water basin organizations and strengthen existing ones. The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Protocol, Senegal River Basin Organization (OMVS), Niger Basin Authority (NBA) and Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) are some of successful example of transboundary cooperation. A parallel effort is also being directed at creating co-operation and coordination among water basin organizations.

PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN AMCOW AND AFRICAN ENERGY MINISTERS (HYDROPOWER): The Africa ministers of water and energy committed to working together and prepared a joint action plan to unlock the hydropower potential of Africa to promote sustainable development, regional integration, water and energy security, and poverty eradication in Africa in their joint meeting held in Johannesburg, South Africa, 8-9 March 2006. They also agreed to improve cooperation and coordination between the Ministers, particularly within the ambit of African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW).  More.

The Inter-Ministerial Dialogue on Building an African Network of Centers of Excellence in Water Sciences and Technology
The Inter-Ministerial Dialogue on Building an African Network of Centers of Excellence in Water Sciences and Technology was held jointly by the Bureaus of African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST) and the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW) on Wednesday, 22 November 2006, in Cairo, Egypt. The dialogue was attended by ministers from Lesotho, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe, senior representatives from Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Africa, and representatives from the Office of Science and Technology of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) Commission. Throughout the day, delegates considered issues related to criteria and guidelines, financial mechanisms and governance for the network of centers of excellence in water sciences and technology (the network), before agreeing to its establishment. IISD RS coverage.

AFRICAN MINISTERIAL INITIATIVE ON WASH:  The African Ministerial Initiative on WASH (AMIWASH) was endorsed by the fifth session of AMCOW in Entebbe on 6 November 2004. AMIWASH brings together African Ministers from different sectors to work proactively together in accelerating their countries’ progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water supply and sanitation. The specific objectives of AMIWASH are to: support African countries (governments) to achieve the MDGs on water and sanitation, through WASH advocacy, coalition building, and policy development and implementation; place WASH issues high on the political agenda at AMCOW and strengthen AMCOW’s capacity in water supply, sanitation and hygiene; and strengthen south-south collaboration on WASH interventions. More.

THE AFRICAN WATER FACILITY (AWF): The AWF is led by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and is established as a Special Water Fund managed by the African Development Bank. The AWF is an instrument conceived to facilitate the availability of financial resources to build Africa’s water infrastructure institutions and management capacity to meet the targets and goals of the African Water Vision and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). More.

RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION INITIATIVE (RWSSI) TRUST FUND: In order to increase funds to the RWSSI, the AfDB, with the support of the donors community, created in 2006 the RWSSI Trust Fund dedicated to water supply and sanitation in rural Africa. The total commitment to that fund is already € 90 million (France: €40 million; Denmark: €30 million and Netherlands:  €20million).  RWSSI was conceived by the African Development Bank and was accepted as framework for meeting the MDG in rural Africa at the Paris Conference in 2005 by the African countries, multilateral and bilateral donor agencies, and civil society organizations. The programme aims to accelerate access to water supply and sanitation services in rural Africa with a view to attaining 66% access by 2010 and 80% access by 2015. If successful, it is estimated that about 277 million additional people would have access to drinking water and 295 million will benefit from sanitation services by 2015. The total investment required for achieving 80 percent coverage by 2015 is estimated to be about US$14.2 billion. More.

THE EUROPEAN UNION WATER INITIATIVE (EUWI): The EUWI is a comprehensive partnership designed to help countries achieve water and sanitation targets. The EUWI support the sustainable delivery of water and sanitation infrastructure and improve water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) practices in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries by helping to address the financing gap. The EU has committed €500 million for the Initiative. More.

G8 AFRICA ACTION PLAN AND TRANSBOUNDARY WATER MANAGEMENT: As part of international efforts towards implementing the plan, the G8 agreed to support NEPAD and its African partners through two initiatives in the field of trans-boundary water management. The first initiative focuses on strengthening cooperation among river basin organizations. The second initiative is for mapping donor support. The survey aims at developing an overview of the current activities of G8 member states in the field of trans-boundary water management in Africa. More.

THE TIGER INITIATIVE: The objective of the Initiative is to use space technology to improve knowledge about the water cycle and to develop sustainable Earth observation services for integrated water resource management in Africa as a special contribution to the NEPAD/AMCOW process and the achievement of WSSD goals. The initiative is supported by the space agencies of Canada, Japan and the United States.  More.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUM FOR AFRICA (ICA): The primary objective of the Consortium is to build a strategic partnership among donors to facilitate the development of infrastructure in Africa in support of economic growth and poverty reduction. The key sectors covered by the consortium are water and sanitation, energy, transport, telecommunications and urban infrastructure. More.

WATER AND SANITATION PROGRAMME FOR AFRICA REGION (WSP-AF): The Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP), managed by the World Bank and funded through international partnerships with a wide range of External Support Agencies (ESAs), is a field network represented in at least 12 countries whose mission is to help the poor gain sustained access to water and sanitation services.  WSP focuses on developing policies, finding innovative solutions, promoting best practices and developing capacity for sustained service access. The Program is managed from the World Bank's Energy and Water Department, liaises closely with the Bank's regional operations, as well as with sectoral investment programs of other ESAs. More.

UN-HABITAT, WATER FOR AFRICAN CITIES (WAC) PROGRAMME: The Water for African Cities programme is supported by a water and sanitation Trust fund whose key objectives are to create an enabling environment for pro-poor investment in water and sanitation in urban areas, and to support capacity building at local level to manage these investments in a sustainable manner. Currently, Currently 17 cities from 14 countries and the Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Initiative are involved in programme. More.