The Executive Secretariat of the 9th World Water Forum, in collaboration with AMCOW and the African Union, mobilizes the Regional Economic Communities of Africa on the road to Dakar 2021
In order to ensure that water and sanitation issues in Africa are properly addressed, the Executive Secretariats of the 9th World Water Forum and AMCOW have launched a series of webinars in partnership with the African Union Commission for Regional Economic Communities. The objective of these webinars is to ensure broad and active participation of African States, non-state actors, including the private sector, and centers of excellence in the preparatory process for the 9th World Water Forum.
The first meeting of this webinar series was organized with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on the theme ''Water Security for Peace and Development in the SADC Region''. Preparation of the 9th World Water Forum'' on September 9, 2020.
The objective of this meeting was to :
- mobilize all stakeholders in all SADC Member States;
- share information on the status of the preparatory process;
- exchange ideas on how to better collaborate with the SADC region.
Under the effective chairmanship of Mrs. Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner of the Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment of the African Union and Mr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Director of AMCOW, this meeting was effectively attended by representatives of SADC Member States and various stakeholders from the private sector, public sector and civil society in the sub-region.
It was an opportunity for Mr. Abdoulaye Sène, Executive Secretary of the Forum, to present the components of the event:
- the multi-stakeholder platform with all stakeholders (ministers, parliamentarians, local authorities, scientists, private sector, civil society, youth, women, etc.),
- the Summit of Heads of State with the main international institutions,
- the Dakar 2021 Initiative, for the implementation of concrete actions in the field.
The webinar also provided an opportunity to review the expected results of the Forum at the political, scientific and development levels, in line with the wish of Senegal and the World Water Council to make it a more effective Forum at the social, political and economic levels, a Forum for catalytic action on water and sanitation commitments, a Forum linked to the achievement of SDG commitments in particular, SDG 6. 1 and 6.2, the Sendai Agreement on Natural Risks and Disasters, the Paris Climate Agreement, the Agenda 2063 for Africa, etc.
To this end, he invited all the actors in the region to join the ongoing efforts to make "Dakar 2021" a Forum of concrete responses for the populations of the different regions of the world, particularly in Africa, so that water security for peace and development can be ensured everywhere and for all and so that no one is left behind.
This initiative will continue in Africa with webinars for the other Regional Economic Communities (ECOWAS, IGAD, ECCAS, etc.).
It is still within the framework of the mobilization of actors that Mr. Abdoulaye Sène spoke at a virtual seminar organized by the Government of Kenya and various partners (Nairobi Water, Water funds for Africa, Nature Conservancy, etc.) on September 21, 2020. The theme was ''The protection of water sources, on the road to Dakar 2021''. A message from Mr. Loic Fauchon, President of the World Water Council, was also shared on this occasion. An appeal was made to participants to join the efforts to make Dakar 2021 the Forum of concrete responses.
