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Sierra Leone has officially joined the African Union Commission Multi-Country Programme to Accelerate the Water Investment Programme (AU AIP Multicountry GCF Readiness Project), a significant step within the broader Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP).
The announcement followed a high-level consultative meeting on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, involving key Sierra Leonean water sector stakeholders and the Global Water Partnership (GWP).
The AIP is a continent-wide initiative spearheaded by the African Union (AU) with the ambitious goal of mobilizing $30 billion annually to bridge the water investment gap in Africa. This aims to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which focuses on ensuring water and sanitation availability and sustainable management for all by 2030.
Mr. Abdoulaye SENE, Chairperson of Global Water Partnership West Africa (GWP-WA), welcomed Sierra Leone’s participation in the AU AIP Multi-Country GCF Readiness Project. He described it as a strategic move that will bolster the nation’s readiness and capacity to attract international climate finance and implement sustainable and climate-resilient water management and development solutions.
“Sierra Leone’s participation in the project not only reflects its commitment to climate resilient water resources management and development, but also opens new avenues for regional integration and investment opportunities,” Mr. SENE stated.
Mrs. Sarra TOUZI, Senior Water & Climate Resilience Specialist at GWP-Southern Africa, provided details on the 24-month initiative, which runs from August 2024 to July 2026 and includes 15 countries. The project aims to build national capacities for climate-resilient water planning and project development, focusing on strengthened institutional and technical capacity, the development of climate finance pipelines, a continental knowledge-sharing platform, and the formulation of high-quality project concept notes.
Dr. Albert Harrison Harvey, Deputy Managing Director of the Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO), expressed gratitude to GWP and urged sector agencies to fully leverage this opportunity. He outlined both “soft” challenges such as lack of maintenance capacity, non-revenue water, and illegal connections, as well as “hard” challenges including deteriorating water catchment areas, encroachment, illegal mining, and high water turbidity exacerbated by energy supply issues.
Representing the Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC), Deputy Director General Mr. Samai Sandi commended Sierra Leone’s inclusion in the project and reaffirmed EWRC’s commitment to ensuring water availability, accessibility, and affordability for all citizens.
Mr. Junisa P. Bangali, Director General of the National Water Resources Management Agency (NWRMA), stressed the critical importance of capacity building and investment programming for effective water resource governance in Sierra Leone. “This project is timely. GCF and AIP offer us a golden opportunity to build the technical and institutional capacity of our stakeholders,” he noted.
The consultative meeting concluded with a unified commitment from SALWACO, Guma Valley Water Company, EWRC, and NWRMA to collaborate on implementing AIP goals in Sierra Leone. Discussions underscored the necessity of establishing a national coordination framework, harmonizing policies, and promoting data sharing to achieve impactful and measurable outcomes.
