Videomessage by the Prince of Orange on the occasion of the official opening of the AfricaSan 2008 Conference, 18 February 2008

Speech | 18-02-2008

Your Excellency Mrs. Lindiwe Hendricks, Your Excellency Mr. Bruno Jean Richard Itoua, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
We've got it! We have a dedicated AU Water and Sanitation Summit involving the Heads of States and Government of this beautiful continent. It will take place in Egypt this July, at the next General Assembly of the African Union in Sharm el Sheikh. I would like to thank everybody who helped achieve that and as chair of UNSGAB, co-host of this conference, I would have loved to celebrate it with you in Durban.

In my days as a pilot for AMREF/Flying Doctors I learnt firsthand that medical NGO's were longing to shift from expensive curative healthcare to an affordable preventive system and Sanitation just happens to be the best answer in the market.

This AfricaSan is a cornerstone meeting in the runup to the Summit. It provides a framework for identifying key political messages and designing roadmaps so that presidents, prime ministers and finance ministers can get Africa back on track to achieve the water and sanitation MDG. And, in its slipstream, six other MDGs aimed at eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating waterborne diseases.

Of course, all these MDGs cannot be achieved just by providing sustainable access to clean water and sanitation. But it is crucial to their achievement. It is for this very reason that the African Development Bank is holding its first Water Week at the end of March to see what role water can play in meeting these objectives. If a bank hears that a dollar spent in one sector can save nine dollars in other sectors it suddenly becomes all ears!

Ladies and gentlemen, it can be done!!

Experience has shown that remarkable advances can be made very quickly, even in the poorest of countries. Improved sanitation is achievable! Just a few examples:

In Ethiopia, integrated programmes have been devised to tackle water supply, sanitation and hygiene education - or WASH programmes, as they are known. The Ministries of Water Resources, Health and Education have signed an MoU setting out the roles and responsibilities of partners regarding their implementation, meanwhile underscoring the necessity of cross sectoral approaches to achieve the MDG's.

Under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister, these three ministries have formed two national coordinating structures: one for policy and strategy and the other for technical and operational issues. Civil society, the private sector and international development partners are also actively involved in the coordinated WASH efforts. A National Sanitation Forum has been set up to promote and support sanitation and hygiene. Institutional arrangements, sub-national roles and responsibilities have also been clearly defined. This is a most interesting model for others, and will be presented in Durban by my friend the Honourable Minister for Water Resources in Ethiopia, Mr. Dingamo.

Not only at the institutional level, but also on the ground there have been some stunning results in Ethiopia. In its Southern Nations State, 1.3 million latrines were built in only 18 months time.

In Uganda, in the district of Busia, motivated district health officials virtually doubled coverage of sanitation through a sustained local promotion program.

The introduction of 'Community Lead Total Sanitation' or the 'Total Sanitation Approach' has achieved remarkable results in countries like Benin, Nigeria, Zambia, and Sierra Leone.

And these are all-African success stories, achieved by Africans, proudly willing to help other Africans. All examples of effective, innovative south-south cooperation!

Development Partners for Africa await your recommendations. Various major international meetings will give us a platform for discussing African sanitation issues.

Last December, I met the Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Fukuda, to discuss how the G-8 can contribute to advancing Africa's development agenda. I was glad to hear that in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he had mentioned that Water and Sanitation will be one of the three top issues to be discussed under the heading of "Development and Africa" in the upcoming G-8 Summit.

The fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development will be held in May in preparation for the G-8 Summit. UNSGAB will organise a dialogue with TICAD IV participants. As Chair of that Dialogue, I will be glad to deliver AfricaSan's message directly to the participating leaders of Africa and the G-8 if you so wish.

The OECD will organize a High-level Meeting on Water and Sanitation under the leadership of Mr. Gurria , the OECD Secretary-General and member of UNSGAB.

The 5th World Water Forum will be held in Istanbul in March next year. In Istanbul, the world will take stock of the effects and achievements of the International Year of Sanitation.

Key events are awaiting us, and the most important thing is where we will stand after 12 months: drastic improvement or status quo? AfricaSan is the critical kick-off event to decide which one it will be!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen,

To ensure that drastic improvement, I believe we need to get national governments to commit to a number of guiding principles - say 'Durban Principles on Sanitation', and agree on ways to promote local action. Such principles, if I may suggest, could be:

• First, to develop a clear understanding between the ministries of water, health and education about their roles and responsibilities. Ethiopia provides a good model here.
• Second, to evaluate national policies and plans on sanitation, with emphasis on MDG 7 target 10, following the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. Also to put in place a national sanitation target roadmap with planned, realistic and measurable annual outputs and tracking instruments, particularly at local level.
• Third, to set up a separate national budget line for sanitation and invest substantially more in this field. Giving more central funding to both water and sanitation, and decentralizing access to local governments are key issues that need our attention.
• Fourth, to place special focus on sustainable and reuse-oriented sanitation - the Ecosan approach - and promote its integration in relevant sector policies, such as health, agriculture and energy.
• Fifth, to involve women more in all aspects of sanitation and hygiene. Awareness-raising campaigns are needed, and local governments and community leaders, including the health sector, must be targeted.
• Sixth and last, to support capacity building and training for sanitation, particularly at sub-national levels.

These Durban principles on Sanitation could form the core of the sanitation element of the Sharm el Sheikh African Union summit resolutions. They should be endorsed by African Heads of State and Government, and find their way into national budgets, planning and finance ministries, and PRSPs.

Your results are crucial for further success in Africa. They form the base of all future planning and the input of milestone conferences to be held later this year. The saying goes "garbage in, garbage out" so the quality of your input is crucial to achieving sanitation and all linked MDG's. UNSGAB will help spread your message across Africa and beyond to the rest of the world to make sure everyone understands that "Sanitation for All", also implies "All for Sanitation!"

I wish you a very productive conference and good luck for the rest of this important International Year of Sanitation!

Thank you!