Zambia hosts Africa water integrity meeting

Water sector stakeholders from western, southern and eastern Africa are gathered in the Zambian capital Lusaka to address the urgent need to promote water integrity and fight corruption in the water sector.

“Lack of water integrity is a huge cost for societies as it often translates into poor service provision, loss of lives, stalling of the much-needed development and degraded resources,” Zambian Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development Yamfwa Mukanga told the opening session of the summit.

“This summit will provide a platform for sharing experiences with a view to finding ways of addressing water integrity challenges as a shared responsibility.”

Themed “Accelerating Towards a Water Secure World,” the meeting brings together water integrity experts from over 35 countries in Africa to exchange good practice and experiences related to fighting corruption in the water sector.

Also attending are water users associations, advocacy organizations and representatives from the donor community.

The meeting is the culmination of a sub-Saharan capacity building program sponsored by the UNDP-Water Governance Facility together with its partners UNDP Cap-Net, the Water Integrity Network (WIN) and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

The three-year program, funded by the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), has trained more than 400 people on water integrity.

The outcome of the two-day discussions will be included in a declaration and handed over to a representative of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) during the Wednesday closing session.

UN estimates show that more than 300 of the 800 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in water-scarce environments.