ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire (PAMACC News) - Dr Kerstin Danert is a rural water supply specialist focusing on developing in-country capacity with respect to operation and maintenance, cost-effective borehole drilling, technology adoption and sector performance monitoring, and the, and heads the secretariat of the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN).In an exclusive interview with ISAIAH ESIPISU of PAMACC News Agency, she discusses the achievements attained so far, the lessons learned, and the bottlenecks towards availing water to the rural poor, as the 7th RWSN conference goes down in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Here are the excerpts: What is this conference all about?The forum is a chance to have people from different sectors including local and national governments, nongovernmental organisations, the private sector and community representatives to meet face to face, to exchange knowledge and share experiences.The forum in particular is very important, because it is looking ahead towards sustainable development goals, and of cause for water. The idea is to have water for all by 2030. And given the fact that that 80% of people without water live in rural areas, we cannot meet this goal without giving attention to the rural people. So the conference is focusing on how we can get water to everyone. Yet no single organisation can do that alone, whether it is a bank, a government, or even a UN organ. It is not possible. So the whole philosophy of developing this conference is to have everybody to work together.What have been the major challenges to the campaign for water for all?There has been progress, because there are more people with access to safe drinking water than before. But the main challenge has been reaching out to people living in very remote areas, the very poor people, how to make the marginalised communities with very little means have access to safe drinking water. Again, there has been a lot of focus on the Millennium Development Goals especially in the past five years to get the services running. But the challenge is maintaining the systems. For example, we can get pipes running, but maintaining these services for years is a big challenge.And if you look at the contributions coming in through this conference compared to before, there is much enthusiasm on management and sustainability. So people and organisations are thinking more on how to have the systems to continue to work, and this is a positive change.We need to focus more on professionalism, because if the systems aren’t built well, there is no way they can be maintained. Another problem is that documentation of what is being done is very weak. That is one of the reasons we are having this forum, to encourage organisations to document what they are doing. We need countries to understand what is being invested, what technologies are working and where. What lessons have we learned so far?One of the lessons learned is that we cannot do things in a hurry. You need planning to get things done well. Just running before you can…

ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire (PAMACC News) - Credit access at affordable rates has availed water supply and sanitation services to hundreds of thousands of households in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda, the ongoing discourse on rural water supply, taking place in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire has been told.In his presentation during a parallel session to discuss what the rural people want in regard to water supply and sanitation at the 7th Rural Water Supply Network Forum, Patrick Aluppe, the East African Director for Water.org told delegates that his organisation has used USD 3.6 Million sponsored by the MasterCard Foundation, to catalyse over $20 million in private capital deployment towards water and sanitation. This was done through provision of smart subsidy to financial service providers, to the benefit of over 400,000 households in the region.“With the right physical product and financial product availability, a lot of gaps in access to water and sanitation can easily be addressed by private capital,” said Aluppe, also a water engineer. However, he noted that the only way to succeed in such a business, it requires financial institutions that can do it at a reasonable scale simply because if it is done at smaller scale, it is usually never viable.“There will never be enough charity in the world to solve the global water and sanitation crisis,” said Aluppe, adding that the sector needs fresh thinking and bold approaches to accelerate progress.“We need market-based approaches that challenge the traditional aid system and help us achieve universal access to safe water and sanitation within our lifetime,” he told the forum, which brings together over 500 participants from governments, nongovernmental organisation, the private sector, the civil society and community representatives. However, some of the limitations of the water credit model is that it can only work for people who can borrow and repay loans at market rates, and also works only for clients who can be reached by financial institutions. It therefore means that WaterCredit model may not work with the clients who are considered high risk, or who are too far away from the bank branches. “This is where new innovations will be needed. Water.org is currently exploring the use of digital technology and targeted subsidies to extend access to segments considered high risk by the financial institutions,” said Aluppe.So far, 748 million people or 10 % of global population remains without access to water and sanitation services even after Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). And yet, finance is still a big problem. On average, investment over the period 2015 to 2030 to meet the Sustainable Development Goal of universal access to basic water and adequate sanitation is estimated at $ 49 billion, whereas current average annual overseas development assistance to the water and sanitation sector stands at approximately $12.7 billion, which is far short of what is needed to solve this crisis. Today, there is a $12 billion demand globally among families at the base of the economic pyramid bop for access to finance to meet their water supply and sanitation…

It is home rare and endemic species that include the endangered bonobo, the vulnerable forest elephant, golden cat, giant pangolin, Congo peacock, and numerous other rare primates, amphibians, reptiles and birds with over 300 known tree species. And environmentally, the Maringa-Lopori-Wamba forest landscape is known to be a critical carbon sink and biodiversity area found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).This landscape is an invaluable resource for over 800,000 individuals in this remote rural part of DR Congo. However, due to the increasing population following the high fertility rate among inhabitants and immigrants, this landscape was already succumbing to pressure because the surging population depended on it for livelihood needs, including food, fuel, medicine, income and shelter. However, following intervention by different players among them Africa Wildlife Forum (AWF) with support from USAID and active involvement of local residents for the past 10 years, the Maringa-Lopori-Wamba forest landscape is slowly getting back to its natural position.“We started with micro-zoning so as to create protected areas, then mapped all areas including community forests, areas for agricultural production, and logging concessions among others,” said Hugues Akpona, the AWF country manager in the DR Congo.However, to manage these blocks sustainably, Akpona says, “our approach is to partner with local communities, leaders, organisations and everywhere we go we try to be part of all the decision making processes in raising the conservation agenda.”In the DRC, the Africa Wildlife Foundation works in MLW and Bili Uele where they are involved in improving the effectiveness of protected area management partnering with local wild life authority, the ICCN that is supported technically as well as financial.The support includes setting up management units, surveillances, performance business plans, ensuring the use of new technologies, managing community conservation strategy among others. Akpona underlines the change AWF has brought to this remote area and to its poverty stricken populations supporting the bordering communitiesin the development of agriculture through initiative like distribution of improved seeds, good agricultural practices and other income generating activities.One of the major project undertaken by AWF was to ensure accessibility of the MLW landscape to the Capital Kinshasa by establishing Congo shipping project. The 500-ton green ship found no reliable transportation for the residents in the landscape but now they are able to transport their harvests and the ship brings back manufactured products from the capital.The shipping project has provided a reliable way for the residents on its 11 port stop-over on the Congo River and ensures Maringa-Lopori-Wamba stay connected to the rest of the world while increasing production and access to the markets.The Africa Wildlife Foundation realized another important component in the landscape which is gender balance. This required empowering women achieved through partnering with RFDR (Reseau des Femmes oeuvrant pour le Developpement Rural) to raise production, do literacy classes and develop alternative income generating activities for women and make sure women are also part of decision making processes.“The landscape is very remote with no TV, no telephone and people don’t know about laws,” says Akpona…

KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - Reconnu à travers le monde pour son implication dans la conservation, African Fondation Wildlife (AWF) appuie la RDC dans ses efforts de conservation depuis quelques années. Ces interv. Entions techniques et financières ont été engagée pour aider l’Institut congolais pour la conservation de la nature (ICCN) à relever le défi de la gestion de certaines aires protégées, notamment dans le paysage Maringa Lopori Wamba, l’un de grands espaces qui héberge les éléphants de forêt et les bonobos. Le Manager Pays de l’Awf, Hugues Akpona, l’a fait savoir lors de la 16ème réunion des parties membres du Partenariat pour les forêts du Bassin du Congo (PFBC), qui se déroule à Kigali au Rwanda. « Notre intervention dans le Domaine de chasse et Réserve de Bili Uélé parait aujourd’hui comme une résurrection de ce site. Nous avons renforcé les capacités du personnel en termes de formations, d’appui aux patrouilles et la mise en place de la technologie pour la surveillance (Smart service tracker) toute fois nous sommes à mi-parcours, au moment venu, nous pourrons évaluer avec l’ICCN et en améliorer les faiblesses», a – t – il révélé. A l’échelle nationale l’Awf intervient dans l’a-mélioration de l’efficacité de la gestion des aires protégées, en mettant un accent particulier sur le développement local . Outre son appui à l’ICCN, African fondation wildlife accompagne les communautés riveraines des aires protégées de la RDC dans la mise en place des forêts communautaires, ce qui favorise selon son manager, la meilleure gestion des forêts. « Appuyer la gestion des aires protégées sans appuyer l’homme serait une gabegie. Nous aidons les communautés dans le développement de l’agriculture. Pour y arriver nous leur distribuons des semences améliorées et renforçons leurs capacités dans l’amélioration des pratiques agricoles pour assurer un meilleur rendement, ce qui a un impact positif sur la gestion des sites de l’ICCN », a précisé Hugues Akpona. Le manager de l’Awf reconnait tout de même les difficultés d’ordre infrastructurelles rencontrées durant l’exécution de différents projets. « L’aspect business de nos interventions dans les différents sites est buté aux conditions du milieu. Pas de routes, ni électricité, bref, l’enclavement de sites présente un défis pour lesquels nous devons étudier les moyens pour les surmonter », a – t – il fait remarqué. Pour l’année 2017, l’Awf entend maintenir le même rythme d’investissement tout en recadrant certains aspects.