African Civil Society Call on the African Ministers’ Council on Water to Achieve Agenda 2030 and Leave No One Behind.

In light of the progressive commitments on water, sanitation and hygiene – including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with Goal 6 on WASH, The Ngor Declaration on Sanitation and Hygiene
Adopted by the African Ministers responsible for sanitation and hygiene on 27 May 2015 at
AfricaSan4, Africa Water Vision for 2025 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 – civil society, under the banner of the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) - call on the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) to achieve Agenda 2030 and leave no one behind.

We call upon African governments and ministries to:

1. Prioritise water, sanitation and hygiene as fundamental in the implementation and achievement of the SDGs. Goal 6 must be a core pillar of development plans.

2. Recognise the centrality of Goal 6 in the achievement of all other sustainable development goals, by fostering cross-sector, integrated and collaborative ways of working to achieve this agenda.

3. Ensure the implementation of the N’gor Declaration, and AfricaSan and Sanitation and Water for All Commitments, and align these clearly with national level Goal 6 implementation plans to achieve Agenda 2030.

4. Ensure a stronger role for civil society at various levels for coordination, communication and improved accountability in the implementation of Goal 6.

5. Increase domestic resource mobilisation - and improve allocation and utilisation - to achieve sustainable service delivery and performance, by allocating adequate funding for maintenance, rehabilitation and subsequent support to facilities.

6. Strengthen the performance of relevant institutions by providing clear mandates, sufficient resource allocation, effective coordination, and accountability and transparency mechanisms, to ensure that capacity, skills and resources are improved at all levels.

7. Set and meet specific national targets - based on the principles of the human rights to water and sanitation - so that public investments prioritise the poorest and most marginalised, aiming to progressively reduce inequalities, and are focused on areas that have the greatest needs.

8. Ensure integrated water resource management in all development projects, specifically extractives and construction activities, to secure sustainable water sources.

9. Establish and invest in a robust, centralised system for data collection and ensure open, accurate, disaggregated data.

Read the full Civil Society statement, under the banner of the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) from here

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Uganda CSOs Urge Government to prioritise the Recovery and Restoration of Degraded Ecosystems

The Uganda Civil Society Organizations under the 2030 Agenda Reference Group (currently hosted by Uganda National NGO Forum) have released a statement to the on going High Level Political Forum, as a rejoinder to the Review Report on Uganda's Readiness for Implementation of 2030 Agenda.

The CSO statement in welcomes the efforts of the global development community and the Uganda Government in providing leadership to the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

With respect to Environment and Natural Resources, the CSO rejoinder warn that the environment is facing threats from a range of human activities. Population growth and rapid urbanization have put pressure on the delicate balance of exploiting today’s natural resources at the expense of future generations. For example, Uganda still struggles with loss in biodiversity with depletion of natural wealth estimated to cost the country 4 to 12% of national income each year. For example, in 2005 Uganda had a total of 3.6 million hectares of forest land compared to 4.9 million hectares in 1990 (UBOS 2014).

'Uganda Government should make investment in the recovery and restoration of degraded ecosystems, especially wetlands and the protected forest estate as a priority. Further, Uganda should also take advantage of the proposed climate change funding opportunities for climate resilience and low carbon initiatives.' the CSO Rejoinder concludes. Read the full Uganda CSO Rejoinder from here