FROM EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE, FUMESUA, ASHANTI REGION
It has the main objectives of
stimulating intellectual debates, identifying policy and practice gaps, raising
the profile of innovations and best practices in sanitation and triggering
policy change.
Although several sanitation technologies
and financing options are available to Africa, credible business models to take
advantage of these are non-existent.
Further, even though demand-led approach
to sanitation looks very promising, it is plagued by limitations and lack of
knowledge in terms of context, scale and sustainability, while too little
attention has been given to on-site sanitation, despite the fact that about 80
per cent of Africa’s population relies on this.
These and more, have led to the
formation of the first ever Think Tank for Sanitation in Africa, which is an
initiative of Water and Sanitation for Africa (WSA), a Pan-African
Inter-Governmental organisation consisting of 32 governments.
The Africa Sanitation Think Tank (ASTT)
hopes to accomplish all these through a cycle of research, policy review and
stakeholder engagements, through partnership with existing think tanks and
institutions, for cross learning and technical support in research, policy
analyses and advocacy.
Speaking in an exclusive interview at
the side of the ongoing Mole XXIV Conference at Fumesua near Kumasi, Director
of the ASTT, Mr. Patrick Apoya, intimated that with support from the Melinda
Gates Foundation, the think tank, which was launched Wednesday, August 14, 2013
at the conference by Senior Advisor to President John Dramani Mahama, Mr. P. V.
Obeng, will begin with an 18-month pilot phase.
During the trial stage, the Think Tank,
which for now comprises four countries – Ghana, Cameroon, Benin and Senegal, will
draw from existing studies and ongoing research from Water and Sanitation for
Africa (WSA) and results from the studies organised into three main thematic
areas.
The areas – sanitation as a business,
demand-led sanitation approaches and on-site sanitation, are considered
problematic zones through which efforts have been directed lately towards
promoting easy, adequate and sustainable access to sanitation for the urban and
rural poor.
According to Mr. Patrick Apoya, the ASTT
is aimed at galvanizing the energies of African governments “who have
recognised that they have made a lot of progress in these areas, but sanitation
is one single thing that is a constraining factor in all the 32 countries that
are part of Water and Sanitation for Africa.”
He intimated that the need for a think
tank for Africa came up during a high level forum in Cannes, France in November
2012 that was attended by the council of ministers of the 32 member countries
as well as other stakeholders like international organisations and NGOs.
“So it emerged from that forum, that we
need a special power of reflection to re-look at our path of approaches to
sanitation and see if there are pieces of success that we can put together to
make the progress. Once they mooted the idea, a group was constituted to
reflect and develop the concept on how an African sanitation learning and
coordination platform will be like,” Patrick Apoya intimated.
Further divulging it was that group that
gave the name Africa Sanitation Think Tank, and worked out modalities for its
formation, he disclosed that presently the think tank has two core staff
members being housed by the WSA Burkina Faso office who are working with four
policy managers from the four countries engaged in the pilot with occasional
technical support from WSA staff.
The ASTT is also working in close
collaboration with the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) towards
interfacing and up-scaling of their policy work.
Incidentally, the second phase of the ASTT
implementation process will involve scaling up of the lessons and experiences
obtained from the pilot phase to benefit the rest of the African continent.
Patrick Apoya believes that “There are
successful lessons that are good somewhere, but because of the historical
colonial legacy bequeathed to Africa especially that has almost put us in
enclaves – Francophone, Anglophone” for instance “anything happening in Togo
will always be locked up in Togo – there is no way that can be fused into
anything.”
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