Briefing Note on Mapping EU Support for Sanitation in Africa

Published on: 12/07/2011

It is anticipated that the findings of this work will have the potential to be used for both arguing for greater priority for sanitation within the international architecture and also for individual donors to use in discussing their own Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The main conclusions from the note are:

• European Union donors are a major source of external finance for sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa
• European Union member states’ donor policies on sanitation are consistent and well-aligned with those of the Africa Union. This is a major achievement for Europe and Africa following the first AfricaSan conference in 2002.

Based on country case studies for Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Uganda, the note found that:

• The majority of national planned expenditure in these countries on sanitation comes from external (donor) sources, with EU donors being substantial contributors
• There exists a wide variation in rural and urban expenditure allocations with respect to the deficits in sanitation coverage
• National policies on subsidy for sanitation vary extremely widely and do not necessarily align with sanitation outcomes
• There is a pressing need to “close the monitoring loop”

Read the full study:

Cotton, A.P., Maanen, P van, Scott, R.E., and Valfrey-Visser, B. (2010). Mapping EU support for sanitation in Africa. Loughborough, UK, Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), University of Loughborough. 14 p. Download full report