The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced its intention to invest $500 million to finance the installation of inclusive sanitation services in cities in sub-Saharan Africa. The bank will carry out the programme in partnership with the Gates Foundation.
The AfDB wants to contribute to the development of sub-Saharan cities. Through the Urban Sanitation Investment Fund for Africa programme, the institution will provide half a billion dollars to finance sanitation projects in cities in this part of Africa. The bank will work in partnership for the programme with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The latter has allocated $14.5 million for the project.
The foundation’s contribution will be used to support the design and structuring of the fund and to support development at an early stage of the project. For Wambui Gichuri, Director of the Water Development and Sanitation Department of the Bank, the initiative aims to “address sanitation issues in a comprehensive manner, ensuring that the needy are addressed in a comprehensive manner”. This vision of totality has several advantages: human waste will be safely managed along the sanitation services chain, and it will be exploited in such a way that it can be recycled and reused. The other advantage is that people will benefit from the outcome of the programme in an equitable way.
The African Water Facility’s urban sanitation programme (2018-2022) was launched in 2011. Its main objective is to collect and create an African investment fund for urban sanitation. The programme is funded by the AfDB, the African Water Facility and the Gates Foundation. The two African actors want to mobilise at least $500 million to clean up African cities. The AfDB press release states that 30% of these resources will be dedicated to poor communities.
Wastewater and faecal sludge, a canker worm in Africa
Nearly 90% of wastewater in developing countries is discharged untreated into the environment, a situation that causes many diseases and even deaths: 1,000 children under five die every day around the world due to sanitation problems. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 23% of deaths of premature babies are due to environmental causes (including poor sanitation). In 2012, the World Bank noted that the lack of sanitation was costing some 20 African countries 1 to 2.5 per cent of their annual GDP, or about $4.7 billion. 30% of sub-Saharan Africans had access to sanitation in 2010; a percentage has not improved much in the meantime. The exponential growth of African populations and especially the attractiveness of cities are two factors that complicate the organisation of sanitation services. The institutional agenda of States remains overloaded with security, education and other issues, while sanitation issues are sometimes slow to become a priority for leaders. However, examples such as Morocco or Tunisia, which drive the sanitation market, suggest that other countries could choose the path of emergence that requires wastewater sanitation and waste management.
Luchelle Feukeng
