Mali’s goal to allocate 5% of the national budget for water and sanitation – in line with levels set out in the SWA Framework – is moving closer thanks to improved financial tracking coupled with focused, multi-stakeholder sector dialogue. These moves resulted in large increases in public funding for water, sanitation and hygiene; the budget allocation for the sector tripled from 2017 to 2019.
Mali started this process by developing national sector accounts using the TrackFin methodology in 2015, with support from SWA country partners, UNICEF and WaterAid. TrackFin produces clear, accessible accounts which can be used for national benchmarking and international comparisons. This provides an evidence base to better plan, finance, manage and monitor services and systems. It also allows for greater transparency on sector spending activity – and accountability on funding commitments.
Understanding the sector’s financing gaps better has strengthened the arguments for investment. SWA has provided the space to help us to do that.
TrackFin reporting for Mali helped highlight that allocated public funds were falling short of government ambitions. It found, for example, that in 2013 and 2014 only 1.1% and 1.2% of the national budget respectively was allocated to water and sanitation. TrackFin findings recommended strengthening the financial monitoring of the sector further, particularly to better understand sanitation financing gaps affecting the country.
The Mali TrackFin findings allowed the ministers in charge to clearly demonstrate the issues to the Cabinet Council, which was chaired by the Prime Minister. They also enabled better-informed dialogue across the sector. SWA helped Mali organize a ‘national dialogue on sector financing’ in October 2020 as part of the pledges the Government made as part of the SWA Mutual Accountability Mechanism. SWA’s Systems and Finance Work Group, which brings together water and sanitation, as well as finance finance ministries, has also contributed to an increasing understanding of Mali’s sector financing bottlenecks. Broader sector consultations have also developed. Better inter-sector cooperation has been welcomed in the sector with ministries for energy, health, the environment, and finance joining the water and sanitation ministry to begin the process of formal, multilateral dialogue on the future financing of the sector.