UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF AFRICA (UCLGA)

Capacity Building (CB) and Development 

Ref: CB7 - Services Provision - Water and Sanitation

Purpose and Description

Though access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation has expanded globally over the last few years, this remains a huge challenge for the majority of people in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, the Millennium Development Goals Report 2008 indicates that only 58% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa had access to potable water in 2006 from the 49% in 2000. The same report also indicates that only 31% of people in sub-Saharan Africa were using improved sanitation facilities in 2006 from the 26% in 2000. Factors contributing to this evidently slow progress include lack or underdeveloped infrastructure, high vulnerability to short- and long-term drought, difficult access to reliable water supply, especially in rural areas. In urban areas, improvements in sanitation have failed to keep pace with population growth. This failure of African governments may to a large extent be attributed to the inadequacy of institutional and legal frameworks in place and the lack of proper policies to address the above challenges.

 It is therefore evident that, if urgent corrective measures are not taken, the  majority of African countries will not meet the goal to “Halve by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation”, which their governments committed to at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000. There is a definite need for increased involvement of local authorities in water and sanitation service provision. Local government being the sphere of government closest to the people, its role as “frontline agent” in achieving this goal cannot be underestimated. At a meeting of organized local governments leaders held in Brazil in August 2004, the UN Secretary General acknowledged that up to 70% of the MDGs would primarily be achieved through local governments working in consultation with national governments and other stakeholders.

It is in light of the above described picture that the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA), as the unified voice of African cities, towns, municipalities and villages, appreciates the urgent need to act decisively and ensure that Africa is on track to meet the water and sanitation MDGs.

Through this project, the UCLGA seeks to contribute towards the attainment of water and sanitation MDGs in Africa. The UCLGA, as the umbrella organisation of African local governments championing decentralisation as a tool for improved service delivery, seeks to ensure that its members are geared to contribute meaningfully to halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities by the target year of 2015.  

The UCLGA will undertake the following:

1. Identify niche and strengthen the role of national associations and local governments in the provision of water and sanitation services
2. Develop partnerships and carry out advocacy to strengthen local governments’ responsiveness to the needs for water and sanitation
3. To identify, collate and share knowledge and experiences on innovative practices in the provision of basic services by local governments.
4. To advocate for greater local ownership of development by communities and their governments through mobilization of local funding for basic services provision, including from the private sector, within their own countries to reduce over-reliance on external aid.
5. Promote accelerated rural development around the continent to reduce rural migration and the mushrooming of slums throughout the continent.

http://www.un-ngls.org/UNreform/Local%20Government%20International%20Bureau.doc  

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/reports.shtml