4000 children die every day from diarrhoea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.

ANEW in the Kingdom in the Sky

General Assembly of the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) in Lesotho takes place.

ANEW members debate at General Assembly

13 October 2009

End Water Poverty International Campaign Coordinator Steve Cockburn travelled to Lesotho, Southern Africa for the ANEW General Assembly. ANEW is a leading network of African civil society organisations working to end the sanitation and water crisis and it supports the End Water Poverty campaign.

Representatives from over 40 countries across Africa took part in three days of learning and planning for the Pan-African network, as they bring grassroots voices from across the continent to the region’s leaders.

The network has made massive progress across the region in pushing policy, programmes and implementation forward, as well as holding Governments to account on water and sanitation. For example, they have established relationships with, successfully lobbied and secured declarations from continental institutions such as the African Union to AMCOW (African Ministers’ Council on Water).

Big challenges remain with restrictions placed by governments on advocacy activities and a massive lack of human and financial resources threatening to limit the reach of these organisations.

Even though there is much to do, a real sense of confidence prevailed - as there is a wealth of civil society voices in Africa willing to make sure it gets done and the crisis is tackled head on.

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