The countries were selected based on their readiness as determined in the 2013/2014 consultations on water, strength of the Country Water Partnerships and alignment to on-going processes in the countries. The SDG Water PF will provide programme support at country level, so that efforts are heightened in understanding, monitoring and financing the implications of the new SDG framework in the selected set of countries from 2016-2019. The facility is centred around providing practical support for a rapid start to implementing SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, and other water related SDGs in 20 to 25 countries.
The specific objectives of the PF are to:
- Embed SDG 6 (and interlinked SDGs) into existing national policy and planning frameworks within the participating countries;
- Support countries to access finance for the implementation of the SDGs;
- Support the establishment/ strengthening of a national monitoring system for SDG 6 (and interlinked SDGs);
- Develop the capacity of national institutions to put in place the necessary skills to plan and implement actions for SDG achievement;
- Facilitate the strengthening of partnerships at national and trans-boundary level to enable a multi-stakeholder approach to SDG planning and monitoring
The PF will contribute to the implementation of the SADC Regional Strategic Action Plan IV (2016-2020), which has a component titled “Monitoring and Reporting on the implementation of RSAP IV, Protocol, and SDGs”. This programme will hence support the region in monitoring the implementation of the SDG on Water and contribute to the achievement of supporting countries align to monitoring and reporting systems with regards to the SDG on Water. This will further entail aligning to the Annual Pan African Monitoring and Reporting Systems on Water and Sanitation.