The African Development Bank's new coordinator for its African Water Facility, Mtchera Johannes Chirwa, will deliver key findings of a rural water supply and sanitation report at the World Water Forum to be held in Dakar from 21-26 March 2022.
At the Forum, Chirwa will co-lead a discussion of the State of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Report, which details the prioritisation, quality, and sustainability of rural water, sanitation and hygiene services - also known as WASH - and investment levels for rural WASH in Africa.
The Bank is a lead sponsor of the World Water Forum, considered the planet's largest water event, held for the first time in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The African Water Facility, established by the African Ministers' Council on Water in 2004, provides grants and expert technical assistance to implement innovative water projects, raise investment for water projects, as well as strengthen water governance and water knowledge management across the continent. Chirwa started as Coordinator for the African Water Facility on 1 March 2022.
"The African Water Facility has achieved significant outcomes and impacts in Africa's water sector development, having enabled 5.5 million people to have access to safe water supply, as well as delivering improved sanitation access to more than 1.3 million people since the Facility's inception," said Chirwa. "I therefore look forward to building on these achievements, working with our donors, partners and stakeholders through our highly professional team within the African Water Facility," he added.
Chirwa joined the African Development Bank in 2008 as a Principal Public Private Partnerships Infrastructure Specialist in the Regional Integration Department, where he managed the development and preparation of regional infrastructure development projects in trans-boundary water and transport sectors in southern and eastern Africa.
In 2012, he was promoted to Chief Infrastructure and Public Private Partnerships Specialist in the Bank's Infrastructure and Urban Development Department, where he led infrastructure project preparation under the NEPAD-Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility Special Fund, including its trans-boundary water development cluster.
Chirwa has held several leadership roles including in the development of the Bank's first Public Private Partnerships Strategic Framework (2020 - 2022), and the development of the second phase (2021-2030) of the continental Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa Programme which contains an infrastructure investment portfolio of $161 billion.
Contact:
Amba Mpoke-Bigg, Communication and External Relations Department, email: a.mpoke-bigg@afdb.org
