The Danish Government has provided a US$30.1mn grant to the African Water Facility, managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), to facilitate access to quality water and sanitation for people living in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Somalia
The grant will benefit rural dwellers in the four countries through the facility’s Improving access to climate-resilient safe water supply and sanitation services in the Sahel and Horn of Africa programme. This entails the rehabilitation, expansion and climate-proofing of water supply systems, sanitation and handwashing facilities.
Tobias von Platen-Hallermund, chief advisor in Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commented, "We are particularly pleased to contribute to this programme, which is fully aligned with the new Danish Strategy for Development Cooperation called ‘The World We Share’. One of the strategic pillars of this strategy is climate change adaptation and improving access to clean water so that vulnerable households will continue to have access to drinking water despite water-related shocks such as floods or droughts."
The programme is expected to drive recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic in the four target countries, in part by mobilising new investment in climate resilient water and sanitation infrastructure. The new funding from Denmark will enable the AfDB to finance four to five bankable projects.
The grant is expected to cover the period through 2025.
