Malawi is in the spotlight this week with the Prince Talal Award for Human Development for the Integrated Urban Water and Sanitation Project for the northern city of Mzimba. The aim of this initiative of the Malawian government was to increase access to drinking water and sanitation services in this city with a population of about 27,000.
The project was completed in 2019, one year ahead of schedule. According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), which participated in the financing alongside the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) Fund for International Development, the award comes at a crucial time for the city of Mzimba. “I commend the award given to this project by the selection committee of the Prince Talal International Prize for Human Development. It is timely as this project is rapidly improving community access to water and sanitation while promoting good hygiene practices such as handwashing, one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of Covid-19,” says Akinwumi Adesina, President of the AfDB.
Project Impact in Mzimba
The Prince Talal Prize for Human Development is awarded by the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (Agfund), a regional organization based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The project, awarded in the category “Government and Social Foundations”, has rehabilitated and built several drinking water and sanitation facilities.
According to the AfDB, the project has improved the rate of community access to drinking water from 65% to 95%, while the rate of access to improved sanitation has more than doubled from 45% to 97% and about 1,000 jobs have been created.
“Project components, including a community-led “total sanitation” initiative, helped reduce diarrhea cases from 35 % to 3 %. About ten drinking water points have been installed in neighbouring villages, which has helped stop women fetching water from being attacked, often at night,” says the Pan-African Bank based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The $200,000 Prince Talal Prize for Human Development is awarded to a project submitted by government agencies, public institutions or social enterprises approved by the Mzimba City Water Department in Malawi.
Jean Marie Takouleu