Background and Objectives:

The Managing Water for African Cities Programme (WAC II) was launched by UN-HABITAT in 1999 to help address the urban water challenge facing the African continent. The Phase I programme was successfully implemented between 1999 and 2002 and involved seven cities from seven African countries (South Africa, Ethiopia, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, and the Cote d’Ivoire with Tanzania joining in at the end of the first phase). WAC II commenced in early 2004 in 17 African cities, including Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa and Harar from Ethiopia.

The goal of the programme is to improve the living conditions of the urban poor by providing a foundation to address some of the critical areas of the urban water and sanitation challenges. This is done through direct impact demonstration activities in parallel with gender and capacity building interventions.

Activities:
The main activities include;

• Supporting processes that allow the poor to have a voice in collective decision making;
• Equipping low income communities with sanitation facilities and efficient sanitation services;
• Implementing water demand strategy development;
• Supporting urban management activities to protect and secure water resources in urban catchments and to better coordinate water management with upstream/downstream uses;
• Advocacy, awareness raising and exchanging information in order to engage and mobilise policy level functionaries on WAC II priorities.

Results:

• MOU between the government and UN-HABITAT signed in August, 2006;
• Underserved communities identified for implementation of WAC II programme;
• Trainings and workshops conducted as part of capacity building;
• Sensitization training conducted for policy decision makers and top city administration officials;
• Seven model rainwater harvesting schemes constructed and rainwater collection commenced;
• Preparation of toilet complex construction completed.