Ahead of the UN 2023 Water Conference, End Water Poverty partnered with the African Water Justice Network, Africa Rising, Blue Planet Project and others create a template petition and signature campaign for civil society and community-based organisations in Africa to encourage their governments to advance the priorities of rights-holders in Africa at the conference.
Africa is particularly vulnerable to water insecurity due to factors such as water privatisation, natural resource extraction, low tax funding to the water sector, and poor water and sanitation infrastructure. As a result, many African communities are at risk of water-borne diseases, crop failures, and economic insecurity. This is particularly true of marginalised groups, such as women and children, who often bear the responsible for porting water into homes in the absence of piped networks.
Many of our African members used the template petition (which was available in English and French) to push for a progressive water agenda in Africa. The petition was driven by members in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
On 16 March 2023, the petitions were submitted to all the Ministries of Foreign Affairs via the Change.org app. There were nine country petitions in all.
Members can join the Africa Water Justice Network (AWJN) here. AWJN is hosting a general assembly on 19 April 2023 at 12:00 GMT. You can register to attend here. For more information about AWJN and the general assembly, contact the AWJN coordinator Leonard Shang Quartey.