Partnering with financing institutions has been the key for ensuring that activities supported by the Trust Fund are directly and immediately linked to substantial investment opportunities in the participating countries. Experience shows that the Banks’ project preparation and appraisal period is also significantly reduced and more focused towards serving the urban poor, as a result of this partnership.

In Africa, partnership with the African Development Bank under the Water for African Cities Programme has resulted in critical pre-investment capacity enhancement for the Zanzibar and Harar water and sanitation authorities.  In Kenya, UN-HABITAT’s pre-investment capacity-building activities have helped to fast track approval of the US$ 71.15 million loan provided by AfDB. In Mali, demonstration of appropriate sanitation facilities in Niono to complement the US$ 15.72 million AfDB project has yielded positive results.

Under the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative, a project formulation study, funded by the African Water Facility, to scale up the programme to another 15 towns in five Countries was completed in April 2010. A total funding package of over US$ 150 million is envisaged with the African Development Bank expected to take the lead role in providing the necessary financing for the follow-up investments. A new partnership with the European Investment Bank is laying the groundwork for increasing investment flows to the larger cities around Lake Victoria.

In Asia, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Asian Development Bank in March 2003 envisaged USD10 million in grant funding to be equally shared by UN-HABITAT and the Bank.  After successfully achieving the targets of the first agreement, the second agreement was signed in 2007 where UN-HABITAT’s US$ 10 million investment will complement ADB’s 1 billion dollar investment.