The call came during a high-level dialogue on financing the Africa Water Policy and Vision, held on the margins of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meetings in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.<\/p>\n
Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment Moses Vilakati said Africa had reached a defining moment requiring not only higher investment, but also a new approach to the place of water and sanitation in economic transformation.<\/p>\n
Vilakati said the African Union Theme of the Year 2026, \u201cAssuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063,\u201d sends a political message that water and sanitation have been elevated to the highest level by Heads of State and Government across the continent.<\/p>\n
Vilakati said water must be treated as a strategic economic asset, while sanitation must be recognised as central to dignity, public health, human capital development, productivity, resilience and sustainable development.<\/p>\n
The Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy was officially launched in February 2026 on the margins of the 39th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa. The framework positions water as a key enabler of Agenda 2063 through support for poverty eradication, food security, industrialisation, climate resilience and regional integration. The stated vision is a water-secure and resilient Africa with safe sanitation for all.<\/p>\n
Vilakati also called for a redefinition of bankability in the water sector. Vilakati said the central issue should not be limited to immediate financial returns, but should also include the cost of continued underinvestment in water security and safe sanitation.<\/p>\n
According to Vilakati, more than 400 million Africans lack access to basic drinking water, while nearly 700 million lack adequate sanitation and hygiene services. Vilakati said between $30 billion and $50 billion is needed each year to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030, while current annual investment remains below that level.<\/p>\n
AfDB Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development Martin Fregene said water remains central to industrialisation, agricultural transformation, energy systems, public health, economic productivity and social stability. Fregene said the challenge extends beyond funding to project readiness, coordination and institutional capacity.<\/p>\n
Fregene also announced the launch of the African Water Facility\u2019s latest strategy, aimed at supporting more investment-ready projects, broader financing partnerships and a stronger pipeline of bankable water investments across Africa.<\/p>\n
–AU\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":36086,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-36085","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The African Union (AU) Commission has called for a fundamental shift in how Africa values, finances, and invests in water, sanitation and hygiene, placing water security and safe sanitation at the centre of the continent\u2019s development agenda.","published_date":"","news_description":"The African Union (AU) Commission has called for a fundamental shift in how Africa values, finances, and invests in water, sanitation and hygiene, placing water security and safe sanitation at the centre of the continent\u2019s development agenda.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36087,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36085\/revisions\/36087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=36085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}