In Côte d’Ivoire, financing has been secured for a five-year project which will deliver water and sanitation services to more than 50,000 households in rural communities.
Officials from the country’s water ministry first learned about the funding opportunity at an SWA seminar, which discussed how to prepare project proposals and find suitable donors, said Hélène Bragori, Director of Rural Sanitation at the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Ms Bragori added that SWA went on to provide significant technical help to develop the bid, which was successfully submitted to the World Bank.
The “Water Security for All Uses” programme will cost US $30 million and be funded by the World Bank. In addition to providing 50,000 sustainable household latrines, it will improve toilets in 200 schools and 100 health centres. It will also seek to empower women, training them to manage sanitation facilities across 11 regions and generate income through initiatives like soap-making, which will simultaneously support good hygiene practices.
Financing for rural projects has often proved difficult to obtain in Côte d’Ivoire, because large donors prefer to fund services in high-population areas, which are more easily accessible and where unit impact is highest. However, the “Water Security for All Uses” programme shows that securing financing dedicated to expanding services to marginalized and underserved groups is possible. The project in Côte d’Ivoire is an example of how governments can work to identify appropriate funding channels, and work with financing institutions to plug gaps in essential provision.
After the training on financing, we were constantly in touch with SWA for technical support. As soon as there was an opportunity, we prepared a project and approached the World Bank, confident it would fit into their vision.
Col. Maj. Kollou Beauséjour Oualou, Director General of Water Resources at the Ministry of Water and Forests credits Côte d’Ivoire’s positive progress on sector financing to better collaboration between national ministries and other local water advocates. “Up until now, the water sector has worked in a disparate way, individually, in silos,” he said. “However, our partners and the World Bank have come together to improve the well-being of our population. This is what the programme in Côte d’Ivoire is all about: working together across all sectors to ensure water and sanitation for everyone, everywhere.”