The African Union (AU) designated 2026 as the Year of “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.” In this context, a two-day Pan-African Continental-level Consultation and Exchange Event will be convened as a technical platform to support the operationalisation of the Africa Water Vision and Policy 2063 and its Implementation Plan, with a particular focus on transboundary water cooperation and investment.
The Consultation is convened by the African Union Commission (AUC – Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, ARBE) in collaboration with AMCOW, AUDA-NEPAD, and the African Development Bank (AfDB), and co-hosted by the Global Water Partnership Africa Coordination Unit (ACU), UNDP Africa, GIZ through the Blue Africa action, funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); and GEF IW:LEARN.
It provides a neutral technical space where practitioners and institutions can engage openly on practical cooperation, governance, and investment challenges related to Africa’s shared waters, as well as to discuss the proposed African Transboundary Dialogue and Basin Action (ATDBA) programme under the Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP).
The consultation gathers technical experts from Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), River and Lake Basin Organisations (RBOs), development partners, civil society, women and youth networks, and the private sector, with the primary purpose of:
- Examine how transboundary water resources management can effectively contribute to the implementation of the Africa Water Vision and Policy 2063
- Consolidate lessons, experiences, and emerging practices from basin-, REC- and continental-level initiatives
- Identify technical priorities, enabling conditions, and cooperation mechanisms required to translate policy commitments into implementation at scale.
The outputs of the Consultation will be synthesised into a technical summary note and recommendations, to be shared with AUC (ARBE), AMCOW, and AIP coordination structures as technical input to ongoing policy, planning, and reporting processes.