The Water for African Cities is now in its second phase. Phase I was particularly successful at broadening acceptance of water demand management as the cheapest form of augmenting supply at both utility and national policy-making levels and implementing catchment management strategies to bring together diverse stakeholders from the urban water and environment sectors and community groups to manage water resources.

Cities that participated in the first phase of the Water for African Cities programme include Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dakar (Senegal), Johannesburg (South Africa) Lusaka (Zambia) and Nairobi (Kenya). The first phase of the programme ended in December 2002.

The second phase of the Water for African Cities Programme was launched by African Ministers of the African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW) at the Pan African Implementation and Partnership Conference on Water in December 2003.