African governments need to implement sanitation and water plans to accelerate progress made towards improving services especially for the poor and marginalized, demands the Executive Secretary of the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), Mr Ben Arthur.
Published on: 22/03/2012
Mr Arthur who represents a 50 member network of civil society organizations in Ghana was in Marseilles to participate in the 6th World Water Forum through the Butterfly Effect (a coalition of international NGOs, which advocates effective local solutions that have a sustainable impact on water and sanitation).
He observed that majority of countries on the continent including Ghana have made several commitments, signed on to international conventions and developed plans to address the challenges facing the sector, yet implementation is slow.
He said, “Most countries have developed their water and sanitation plans, based on which development partners make grants and governments source for loans, yet not much is happening on the ground”.
Whiles recognizing the outcome of the 6th World Water Forum may not be technically binding on countries, he expressed the hope the African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW) can take the issues a further step as a key institution within the African Union.
He was emphatic AMCOW as a wing of the African Union “can make things happen”; by holding its members accountable for all the commitments they have made towards water and sanitation services.
