Devex published an article written by Sophie Edwards about discussions around innovative financing streams at the recent Stockholm World Water Week conference:
STOCKHOLM — With new data revealing how far off target the water and sanitation sector is in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, advocates are grappling with the question of how to catalyze more funding.
At World Water Week, there was a growing sense that unlocking private finance and working more collaboratively across sectors will be critical to meeting the ambitious goals. The World Bank estimates an additional $114 billion per year is needed in order to achieve universal access to WASH; in 2014, development finance for water stood at just $18 billion.
Financial experts at the session debated the need for the global water sector to attract additional private money – next to fundings from governments and donors, to be able to scale up the projects for more taps and toilets.
STOCKHOLM — Water advocates are calling for governments to prioritize water, for donors to offer innovative financing solutions, and for practitioners to step outside their technical bubbles ahead of the biggest annual conference in the water sector's calendar.
A Learning and Practice Convening workshop has opened in Accra for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) who have pre-qualified for the final stage of the Sanitation Challenge for Ghana (SC4Gh) contest, dubbed the "Dignified City" award. [...] The two-day workshop, would be facilitated by the SC4Gh team comprising of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Office of Head of Local Government Service, IMC Worldwide, IRC Ghana, and Maple Consult. Full article published by the Ghana News Agency on 25 July 2018.
Social entrepreneurs can save lives in Nepal by selling affordable water treatment solutions (such as filters or chlorine flasks) that clean contaminated water, says water expert Fanny Boulloud. But creating supply and demand in the land of 6,000 rivers proves difficult. In interview with Fanny Boulloud of Antenna Foundation.[May 2018]
IWA published an article Carolina Latorre and Mohamed Tawfik on their website on 19 April 2018, which contained the "hidden part of the Iceberg" image of major maintenance and indirect costs, taken from a presentation by IRC's Catarina Fionseca.
The Ghana News Agency (GNA) published a 2nd press release related to the launch of Asutifi North Ahonidie Mpontuo (ANAM) or District WASH Full Coverage Start-up Initiative in Asutifi North, which was republished on 19 March 2018 by News Ghana and on 22 March 2018 by Modern Ghana. The release quoted IRC Ghana Country Director Vida Duti who "expressed discomfort that the country was making slow progress in achieving target for the goal six of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – ensuring water and sanitation for all by 2030. She called on stakeholders from government, civil society and non-governmental organisations, private sector, service providers and users as well as traditional authorities and the media to support the initiative to achieve useful outcomes".
An excerpt from the same GNA press release, mentioning Vida, was picked by the Turkish media on 20 March 2018 in Anadolu Ajansı, and on 21 March 2018 in both Marmara Gazetesi and TRT Español.
On 19 March 2018 Citi FM Online published a report on the launch of Asutifi North Ahonidie Mpontuo (ANAM) or District WASH Full Coverage Start-up Initiative in Asutifi North. The article quoted IRC Ghana Country Director Vida Duti, who said "the development of ANAM WASH Initiative is to accelerate the rate of progress and demonstrate how to attain full WASH coverage in a district, considering the slow progress made with the implementation of the Ghana Water Sector Strategic Development Plan (2014), according to the Joint Monitoring Programme 2017 report". She explained that "the Asutifi North District was selected through rigorous and diligent process, and therefore appealed to stakeholders to support the initiative aimed at improving access to basic water services by 2030",
The press release included several quotes from IRC Ghana County Director Vida Duti who said "the country was making slow progress in achieving set targets for goal six of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)". Speaking about ANAM, "Ms Duti said it required collective efforts and cooperation to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all". "Ms Duti noted that water and sanitation coverage in the Asutifi North were worsened as only three percent of the District population had access to safely managed drinking water and 23 percent access to basic sanitation, hence the implementation of the initiative". Vida "appealed to stakeholders from government, civil society and non-governmental organizations, private sector, service providers and users as well as traditional authorities and the media to support the initiative to achieve useful outcomes".
