Access to water, sanitation and hygiene a basic right of all people: Finance Minister

Addis Ababa, November 14, 2023 (FBC) – The Ethiopian government believes that access to water, sanitation, and hygiene is a basic right of all people, Minister of Finance, Mr. Ahmed Shide, said in his remarks at the opening of Eastern and Southern Africa WaSH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) summit in Addis Ababa this morning.

The Eastern and Southern Africa WaSH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) summit kicked off in Addis in the presence of Finance and Water Ministers of the sub-region including the World Bank officials and representatives of the private sector.

The summit was opened by the remarks of Mr. Ahmed Shide, Finance Minister of Ethiopia, and Mrs. Victoria Kwakwa, Vice President of the World Bank Group for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Ahmed Shide, during his opening remarks, noted that despite all efforts to exert WaSH service in Ethiopia, today significant number of people lack access to basic water supply, people lack access to improved sanitation, and some people are still practicing open defecation.

Ethiopia has a large access gap in WaSH. This situation calls for Ministers of Finances to prioritize, water supply and sanitation, despite the overall fiscal situation and competing demands for investments.

Mrs. Victoria Kwakwa also noted that we have a long way to go to improve WaSH activities by sector transformation and de-risking the private sector involved in WaSH programs.

The Eastern and Southern Africa WaSH Leadership Summit 2023 brings together Ministers of Finance and Water, Development partners, and private sector leaders for in-depth discussions on advancing systems change as a pathway to universal WaSH access.

The two-day meeting will primarily discuss strategic actions of the systems change approach to address sector-level governance bottlenecks, re-align sector-wide incentives, mobilize more funding from the private sector and climate finance, design WaSH systems that are climate and disaster-resilient, and create a country-level national platform for WaSH.