Water for African Cities Phase II (WAC II)

The second phase of the Water for African Cities Programme was launched by African Ministers of the African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW) at the Pan African Implementation and Partnership Conference on Water in December 2003. WACII took into account recommendations from an Expert Group Meeting held specifically to develop the second phase of the Water for African Cities Programme. The meeting developed thematic priorities and an implementation strategy taking into account recommendations of an independent evaluation of the first phase.

WACII has a multi-faceted strategy to programme formulation and implementation. It uses a top-down approach to encourage and support national governments in the development of policies, regulations and legal frameworks, and a bottom-up approach to build capacity in local authorities, and strengthen relevant institutions through training programmes and other capacity building measures.

In addition to the eight countries that participated in WAC I (Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania), another seven countries have joined the second phase, Nigeria, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Rwanda and Uganda. The duration of the second phase will be three years, 2004-2007.