Lemessa Mekonta, IRC Ethiopia Country Director was master of ceremony
The 12th annual WASH, WRM, and Energy Multi-Stakeholder Forum in Ethiopia focused on resilience and brought together key sector actors
Published on: 31/07/2024
Keynote speakers addressed challenges like budget scarcity and climate change impacts. The forum highlighted initiatives like TSEDU Ethiopia, aiming to end open defecation by 2030, and discussed progress and recommendations for integrated planning and improved monitoring. The event concluded with calls for equity, sustainability, and affordability in WASH and energy services.
The WASH, Water Resource Management (WRM), and Energy Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF) is an annual event that has been organised by the sector in Ethiopia since 2006. The theme of this year’s 12th annual MSF was “Resilience in the Face of Challenges” and it took place from July 11 -12, 2024 in Addis Ababa at Hilton Hotel.
The main aim of the forum was bringing together main sector actors including policy makers, practitioners, researchers, technology developers and the private sector. The forum sought to review evidence, develop new approaches to enhance services, and improve water resources management. Additionally, it aimed to renew commitment for the ONEWASH phase III, strengthen National Integrated Water Resources Management Program (NIWRMP), accelerate the Energy Development Plan and increase awareness and understanding of all stakeholders on the importance of inclusion, sustainability and quality of services.
The forum was officially opened with a speech from H.E. Dr. Eng. Habtamu Itefa, Minister of Ministry of Water and Energy who highlighted significant milestones achieved in WASH, IWRM and Energy. However, he stressed the need to address equity among regions and districts. He also emphasised the need to engage the community, utilise appropriate technology, harvest rainwater, address the gap in water demand and avoid duplication of efforts.
Following the formal opening speeches a presentation was given by Mr. Wondayehu Wube from the Ministry of Health on one of the national flagship programmes TSEDU Ethiopia. TSEDU is an abbreviation for “Total Sanitation to End Open Defecation and Urination by 2030” but the word has also a meaning in Amharic which is 'clean'. He mentioned that the current status of open defecation is 17% and 65% of the total population uses unimproved sanitation and 39% of health facilities and 61% of schools lack basic sanitation in Ethiopia.
According to Wondayehu, TSEDU aims to create demand for improved sanitation products and services, encourage sustainable behaviour change and create a conducive environment for the implementation of the initiative. The programme plans to bring 5.61 billion USD in economic return by investing 1.02 billion USD, and to save 2.1% of GDP by improving sanitation and reducing mortality by 17%. The planned funding source of the programme is 30% from government of Ethiopia, 20% from development partners, 30% from the community and the remaining 20% from the private sector.
One of the main topics presented during the event was progress on the MSF 11 undertakings. WASH, WRM, and Energy efforts in MSF 11 that will be jointly implemented in 2024 are upscaling the integration of climate resilient activities in all initiatives of WASH, WRM, and Energy and improve the business climate for the private sector. The WASH sector undertakings include strengthening the national WASH coordination efforts, improving sustainability and post-construction management of WASH infrastructures, finalising the WASH sector financing strategy, mobilising and integrating efforts in establishing WASH management information system (MIS). Additionally, the undertakings focus on promoting gender inclusiveness WASH, urban WASH service regulations, institutionalising Market Based Sanitation (MBS), supporting TSEDU Ethiopia, and promoting water harvesting and saving technologies for the provision of WASH services.
The WRM sector undertakings include strengthening NIWRM and its governance, strengthening the planning, implementation, and regulator capacities of basin offices, establishing a comprehensive Basin MIS, and centralising water research.
The Energy sector undertakings include updating the national electrification programme, continuing the power sector reform programme, establishing the power sector reform unit, and finalising the energy policy and legal frameworks.
It was agreed that if progress has been made in all the undertakings and indicators to monitor progress in the future will be developed.
The key recommendations for WASH from the Joint Technical Review (JTR) include incorporating sanitation financing options and strategies into the national WASH finance strategy, working towards the development of national WASH MIS, considering WASH as a business, encouraging local manufacturing by addressing policy barriers and using Ethiopia Water Technology Institute (EWTI) as a research, technology transfer, and capacity building hub for the water sector.
The JTR’s recommendations for the WRM are the need for integrated planning with regions, establishing WRM groups at basins and regions for basin planning and implementation, as there is high commitment and demand to implement the basin plans at regional levels. Additionally, recommendations include the need for IWRM project resource identification and mapping (who is doing what and where), starting flood early warning systems, and strengthening linkage with the universities for basin planning, research, and data sharing.
The JTR’s findings regarding limitations in the WRM are limited capacity and visibility of basin institutions, limited monitoring stations and automation, and limited capacity in managing stations, and communication (planning, analysis, reporting, and data/information sharing) at regional and basin levels. There is also limited tendency for applied research and innovation, harmonisation of government programmes and public interest, lack of capacity at regional institutions for WRM interventions, and lack of mainstreaming regional projects in IWRM.
The presentation on self-supply highlighted technology options (roof water harvesting, shallow groundwater, household level storage) to be applied in areas with more than 200mm annual rainfall and the need to combine it with household water treatment and safe storage.
Scaling of self-supply requires support to households in terms of technology, spare parts, maintenance, and finance. Self-supply can create job opportunities for well diggers, pump producers, and farmers. It was also highlighted that there are opportunities to expand self-supply in Ethiopia; it is supported by policy, many lessons learned from previous years, availability of new low-cost technology options, a good amount of precipitation and the existence of governance structures at community level.
Finally, the forum concluded by highlighting key undertakings from each of the parallel sessions.
The forum was closed with a closing remark from Dr. Eng. Habtamu Itefa who mentioned the forum as the biggest event involving key stakeholders including sector leadership from different levels. He reiterated the need to ensure equity, sustainability and affordability in WASH and energy service provisions. He stressed the need to ensure availability of services 24/7. Regarding affordability, he mentioned that although WASH and energy service costs are cheap in Ethiopia, the majority of the community can’t afford to pay. To address this gap, a policy measure is required on cross-subsidy. Finally, he emphasised the need for vertical and horizontal collaboration across multiple sectors to improve service delivery.
As one of the key sector actors, IRC WASH participated in the MSF 12 organising committee, engaged in the Joint Technical Review (JTR) on WASH and WRM, contributed to exhibitions, and facilitated presentation of various sessions during the event.
