WASH News Southern Africa
News feed maintained by information specialists from IRC and partners.
Mozambique: Common Investment Fund for Water Supply
20 Mar 08
The Mozambican government and its international cooperation partners have agreed to create a common investment fund for the water supply sector, designed to provide a better management of financial resources.Speaking in Maputo on Wednesday, at the end of a three day meeting between the government, international partners, and other stakeholders in the sector, the [...]
Zimbabwe: Full Dams Do Not Translate Into Water Supplies
20 Mar 08
HARARE, Feb 28 (IPS) - Heavy rains in Zimbabwe and in the catchment areas of its major rivers in December and January have filled most of the country’s dams to capacity. Yet, many urban households do not have water. Since the Zimbabwean government launched Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 the population density of Mabvuku, a suburb [...]
Africa bears the brunt of climate change, WWF
20 Mar 08
Nairobi, Kenya – The sparkling glaciers high up in the Rwenzori Mountains—and their crystal-clean mountain streams—may be no more, according to WWF, the global conservation organization. Climate change has taken its toll on some of Africa’s highest peaks; the mountains’ glaciers are on their knees. WWF estimates that the glaciers will completely disappear in the [...]
MCC and DFID Sign Agreement to Coordinate Poverty-Reduction Efforts in Africa
17 Mar 08
On Feb., 19, 2008, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) signed a first-of-its-kind Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations which will increase coordination and make their poverty reduction efforts more effective in Africa and throughout the globe.Focusing initially on Africa, the MOU identifies practical areas for [...]
Zimbabwe: Engulfed by sewage
17 Mar 08
BULAWAYO, 14 March 2008 (IRIN) - To get to Sinikiwe MaKhumalo’s doorstep in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo, visitors have to step on a thin plank perched precariously over a trench that prevents sewage from flowing into her house. The 57-year-old grandmother has endured this arrangement to access her home in the city’s Old Magwegwe [...]
Madagascar: 13,000 potable water points by 2012
03 Mar 08
Madagascar’s WASH programme aims to build 13,000 potable water points and 800,000 latrines by 2012. The water component will increase coverage from 38% to 72% of the population and will cost the equivalent of US$ 1.2 billion. Read more: Noro Haingo Rakotoseheno, L’Express de Madagascar / allAfrica.com, 28 Feb 2008 [in French] [...]
South Africa - On track to flush out bucket system
03 Mar 08
Durban - South Africa has almost met the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people who do not have proper sanitation, but there are still challenges to overcome, says Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks.“Remarkable achievements have been attained in our bucket eradication programme.“Although not all the buckets have been removed by [...]
Bad sanitation holds back development in Africa
03 Mar 08
WaterAid has launched its new report, Giving sanitation the green light, at AfricaSan, Africa’s conference on sanitation and hygiene. The conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, from 18-20 February, and WaterAid’s Policy Officer for Sanitation, Oliver Cumming, will be posting a daily blog here.The paper charts what progress has been made and what [...]
Zambia: Regulatory Alliance holds National Consumer Conference
03 Mar 08
On 24th and 25th January 2008, delegates from across the country gathered in Lusaka for the first National Consumer Conference under the theme: “Consumer you have the power: Towards an enlightened consumer in a liberalized economy.”The conference which was organized by the Regulatory Alliance comprising of the Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ), Energy Regulation Board [...]
South Africa: Paying the price for mining
03 Mar 08
WONDERFONTEINSPRUIT , 15 February 2008 (IRIN) - One legacy of South Africa’s extensive mineral deposits is the infrastructure and wealth of the country. But another more troubling legacy is emerging as an increasingly urgent problem: environmental contamination - heavy metals and radioactive elements - from over 100 years of mining that could severely pollute the [...]
