Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) has planned to strengthen national plans and planning processes across Africa through the development of the National Planning for Results Initiative (NPRI)
SWA – a global partnership that aims to ensure that every person has sustainable access to sanitation and drinking water – intends for the NPRI to function as a partnership mechanism that will allow developing countries to articulate a demand for assistance, while also permitting development partners and donors to respond in a coordinated manner.
According to SWA, the initial focus will be on off-track or fragile states that are highly aid-dependent, lack effective sector coordination mechanisms, and do not yet have comprehensive national sector planning processes in place.
A SWA spokesperson said that the recent experiences in Liberia demonstrate that coordinated country-led, joint action can drive progress. In 2011, the Liberian government led a multi-stakeholder mission that resulted in the Liberia Compact - a substantive roadmap of how to improve sanitation and water through institutional reform, service provision, sector monitoring, and financing.
This is reported to have resulted in a strengthening of institutions and improvement of water points in Liberia.
The spokesperson added, "ln 2012, with the support of SWA partners, the government's next steps include putting in place plans for sector investment and capacity building, and establishing a national pooled fund for UNICEF’s WASH programme."
Wallace Mawire
