Euwi - European Water Initiative

What is the Africa Working Group (AWG)?

The Africa Working Group (AWG) is one of the ‘regional components’ of the EU Water Initiative (EUWI) and is responsible for its activities in Africa. The purpose of this partnership is to make an effective joint (Africa-Europe) contribution to the achievement of water and sanitation related MDGs in Sub-Sahara Africa.

 

The AWG emerged from the EU-Africa Strategic Partnership on Water Affairs and Sanitation, signed in September 2002 during the World Summit on Sustainable Development by the Presidents of South Africa, Nigeria, the European Union and the European Commission.

 

The AWG has members coming from the Technical Advisory Committee of the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW-TAC), the European Union Member States (EU MS), the European Commission (EC), civil society, financing institutions, knowledge institutions and the private sector. The diversity of its membership is considered to be one of the strengths of the AWG. Its membership is open to organisations active in the fields of policy dialogue and national policy framework development, accountability and transparency, and donor harmonisation.

 

The AWG is co-chaired by the AMCOW-TAC and an annually rotating EU member state, while a ‘troika’ consisting of the present chair, outgoing chair and incoming chair functions as the operational management body. The AMCOW-TAC acts as the strategic counterpart to the troika of the AWG. Day-to-day work of the AWG is enhanced through a support team hosted by UNDP and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), in Stockholm, Sweden.

Like the EUWI as such, the AWG is not a financing institution but aims at reinforcing the political commitment and accountability of EC and EU Member States for harmonized support in the areas of water supply & sanitation and IWRM, in line with African interests and demand. Furthermore, the AWG can support African partners (like AMCOW and AfDB) on request in enabling partner countries to develop and implement policies, strategies and priorities. The work plan for 2011 consists of the following activity areas:
• Support to implementation of declarations
• Aid effectiveness & efficiency in the WSS sector in Africa
• Strengthening partnerships and stakeholder involvement between EU Commission, EU Member States and African Partners
• Advocacy, knowledge sharing, dissemination and visibility
To enhance its effectiveness, the AWG has adopted the following working principles:
• Close cooperation with and strong involvement of AMCOW-TAC and the AU
• Alignment and cooperation with other international actors and Africa focused activities, like UN-Water, AfDB, WSP, G8, GF4A etc
• Improving communications with the members and stakeholders of the AWG
• Bilingual operations (FR, EN)