Ivory Coast to host High Level African Forum on water, sanitation, hygiene

The 3rd edition of the High Level Forum (HLF) on water, sanitation and hygiene will be held in Abidjan, Cote d’lvoire from November 21-23, 2013.

The forum, which is an initiative of the Water and Sanitation for Africa (WSA), is to compel governments to politically commit to the Water and Sanitation and Hygiene service.

The forum is an assembly of multi actors that provides a platform for concrete decision-making.

Ms Destina Samani, Resident Representative of WSA, announced when speaking at a press conference at the weekend to commemorate the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of WSA in Accra.

It was also to provide investment opportunity and technical partnership for African governments.

The WSA is an intergovernmental agency established by African Governments to focus on providing research support for informed decision and actions on water and sanitation issues.

Ms Samani said the organisation had succeeded in building a multi-disciplinary team that had renowned expertise in development in Water and Sanitation and Hygiene.

“Most of the initiatives promote the development of integrated systems, combining the optimization of technical and scientific approaches and innovative financing mechanism,” she added.

Ms Samani said the organisation over the years had facilitated direct investment of $560 million and $4.4 billion indirectly in the water sector.

The WSA is present in 32 African countries currently and she expressed the hope that it would cover all the 54 countries in Africa by 2015.

Source: GNA