Ethiopia celebrated World Water Day on March 22, 2023, with participation from several partner organisations and WASH sector government implementers.
Published on: 23/03/2023
His Excellency Ambassador Asfaw Dingamo, State Minister of the Ministry of Water and Energy, mentioned in his opening remarks that the government of Ethiopia is working to develop a water service that can address the needs of the country's rural and urban population and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6. The government is working on climate-resilient WASH to combat the effects of climate change in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene sector, according to HE Ambassador Asfaw. He also added, ‘’we have a significant task to complete in order to address issues like population growth, drought, and flood. We must therefore develop a robust WASH system, manage water resources effectively, and use new technology and innovations to enhance the service.’’
At the panel discussion that was held as part of the World Water Day event, several issues were brought up and discussed. One of the primary issues discussed in the panel is integrated water resource management. Stakeholder participation, water allocation, pollution control, basin planning, monitoring, information management, flood and drought management, and economic management are the eight primary areas that Ethiopia's integrated water resource management implementation is focused on. To expedite change in the water service the requirement of going beyond business as usual is mentioned.
The key obstacles highlighted in the water scheme construction were study and design, drilling, civil works, governance, data collecting and monitoring, security problems, price escalation, shortage of foreign currency, capacity, and finance. To address these challenges, there is a need to finalise ongoing policy and plan alignment, update and revise legislations and strategies in the interest of policy coordination and coherence, establish regulations and accountable mechanisms, develop the capacity of WASH institutions, and start preparing multi-sector planning.
IRC WASH Ethiopia was one of the World Water Day Celebrations' contributing partners.
