The ninth year of the "Water for All" specialised master's programme is now in the field. The course, which is designed to build the capacity of water and sanitation professionals in developing countries, is an initiative of the French school AgroParisTech, the Suez group and its foundation, in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD).
How can we meet the challenge of water in Africa? This question is being asked again on World Water Day, Friday 22 March 2024. The answer lies in infrastructure and finance. But we also need to focus on training local players in water and sanitation management. This is the leitmotif of the AgroParisTech “Suez-Water for All” Chair, which delivered its ninth cohort on Monday 18 March 2024 in Paris, France.
The event was attended by several African leaders, including Jumaa Hamidu Aweso, the Tanzanian Minister for Water. The aim of the master’s-level course is to equip water and sanitation managers from 54 countries to meet the challenges facing this key sector in developing countries. These include climate change, which is defying all predictions, from Rabat in Morocco to Cape Town in South Africa, via Niamey in Niger and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Millions of people in the Horn of Africa are exposed to water shortages.
Managing water projects
Faced with this situation, the 39 executives from public, semi-public and private companies, from public utilities or from the supervisory authority in 17 countries were trained in the various business aspects of a public water and sanitation utility and its global challenges, as well as in general management issues. Skills were also enhanced in project management, particularly in “framing, operational diagnosis, designing an action plan, management, acceptance, methodologies and tools, and problem solving”, says the Suez Foundation, one of the Chair’s partners.
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With this master’s degree, which is also supported by the French Development Agency (AFD), the new ‘leaders’ in water and sanitation are “enriched with the skills and knowledge needed to develop a strategic vision of water management services. This vision will guide the organisation, operational management, adaptation of human resources and the mobilisation of all stakeholders in driving change”, said Sabrina Soussan, President of the Suez Foundation, at the graduation ceremony.
Encouraging innovation
To date, the Chair has already provided capacity-building for at least 512 managers from 20 countries in Africa and Asia. For Larissa Ahui, one of the 39 executives trained in the 9th class, the Chair “has taught us to innovate in every respect. The case studies in Morocco, Senegal and Togo enabled us not only to strengthen our capacities, but above all to benchmark with other countries and see how to replicate them in our respective countries with a view to improving the sector’s performance”, explains the Regional Director for South Comoé at the Ivorian Ministry of Hydraulics.
The Suez group intends to continue funding this specialised master’s degree, which contributes to “cutting-edge expertise” that is, “along with innovation (…) a key driver in the transformation and change in the management of water services” in the territories, said Sabrina Soussan. This approach contributes to achieving the United Nations (UN) 6th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on universal access to water and sanitation by 2030. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 418 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still do not have access to water and 779 million to sanitation.
Jean Marie Takouleu
