Keynote address by Dr Callist Tindimugaya, Ministry of Water & Environment, Uganda (UPGro Ambassador)
[Correction: the co-author of the abstract is Dr Andrew Bullock, not Sean Furey]
“Groundwater is poised to play a key role in Africa’s transformation. Over two-thirds of African nations have made specific reference to groundwater within their National Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategies.
Water is very strongly represented in such National Strategies, and across the pillars. There are three main clusters of pillars at the core of the development strategies namely
(i) unlocking Growth Potential – including water within the productive sectors of agriculture, energy, water transport, mining, business enterprises,
(ii) Social Well Being – including WASH, sanitary urban environments and disease reduction, and
(iii) Governance and Human Capital – around issues of environmental compliance, water policy and management, climate adaptation, decentralisation, private sector, regional integration.
The National Strategies of many countries make explicit reference to groundwater and there is a significant concentration of strategy around groundwater in support of urban centres and rural water supply, amid other governance, policy, financing, institutional and sustainability issues. It is therefore important to get the key players appreciate that a strong connection exists between groundwater and Africa’s politically-owned agenda of national development, inclusive growth and poverty reduction.
It means that research links to poverty can evolve from conceptual frameworks towards the actual political commitments to use groundwater towards poverty reduction in Africa. There is therefore a need to look at a significant African process around the AfricaWater Vision, the Sharm-el-Sheik commitments to delivery, national monitoring and evaluation systems and the associated agenda of key African actors, notably the African Union, African Ministerial Council on Water, the African Development Bank and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and how they can help move the groundwater agenda forward.
“This paper presents proposals on how the role of groundwater on the continent can be enhanced and appreciated so as to support National Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategies.”
Source: Conference Abstract
Photo: SADC-GMI (via Twitter)
UPGro - African Groundwater 2020 