The One Water, Sanitation and Hygiene National Program (OWNP) in Ethiopia have received US$91.10m funding from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
The funds are part of US$256m awarded by the bank to support the Governments of Nigeria and Ethiopia in their water, sanitation, health and infrastructure. The Board of Directors approved the US$ 91.10m loan and another US$ 10.06m grant from the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI) Trust Fund to fund Ethiopia’s mega water, sanitation and hygiene program.
The Development objective of the Programme is to contribute to achieving the Government ‘social and economic priorities in an equitable and sustainable manner by increasing water supply and sanitation coverage and the adoption of good hygiene practices, guided by the WASH Implementation Framework (WIF).
The One WASH National Program (OWNP) has four major components which are Rural and Pastoral WASH, Urban WASH, Institutional WASH, Programme Management and Capacity Building.
The Program seeks to reduce spatial inequalities in access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation so that under-served areas, communities and households will receive at least a basic level of water supply and sanitation services.
The people who are to benefit the most from the program are those in the rural areas and pastoralists. This is because the rural and pastoral WASH involves the construction and rehabilitation of water supply facilities and support to households and communities to self-supply. In this area, the aim is providing or rehabilitation of 27,000 water facilities.
Women and girls will also be major beneficiaries since the time they used to spend while looking for water can be spent on other economically viable projects.
The total cost of the project is estimated at US$ 2.4bn. Other parties involved in the funding of the project include the World Bank, The Government of Ethiopia, and UK Department for International Development (DFID) and UNICEF.
