Water for Africa Through Leadership and Institutional Support (WALIS)
WALIS provides technical, programmatic, administrative, and logistical support to improve the capacity of African water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector.
Overview
Despite significant investments over the past 30 years, hundreds of millions of Africans still do not have access to basic services or use safely managed drinking water and sanitation facilities. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the critical importance of sanitation, hygiene, and adequate access to clean water for preventing and containing diseases. To help address the lack of access to water and sanitation services and facilities from a regional perspective, USAID created the WALIS program. This program places a great focus on building the capacity of national and regional leaders to capture and apply evidence to deliver improved access to safely managed water and sanitation for all.
WALIS has spent the past five years (2015-2020) strengthening the ability of African leaders, institutions, and stakeholders to use data and analyses to shape WASH policies, plans, and budgets while also fortifying regional institutions to better serve the Africa WASH sector. In its sixth and final year, WALIS will reinforce core program activities while strengthening the integration of WASH into COVID-19 response and research efforts. DAI leads the WALIS Team and engages with multiple partners and key investors in Africa’s WASH sector.
Pathway to Sustainable WASH Services
Partners
THE WALIS TEAM AND ITS IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS
DAI engages many implementing partners to form a dynamic and responsive team to build the capacity and competency of national and regional decision-makers in Africa’s WASH sector. Our team includes:
- Cayman Consultants
- Centre de Suivi Ecologique (Center for Ecological Monitoring)
- ENGIDRO
- Mann Global Africa
- Maple Consult
- The Cloudburst Group
- Taoti Creative
- Training Resources Group
- ValuAdd Management Services
- WaterAid
REGIONAL WASH STAKEHOLDERS
WALIS engages its stakeholders to enhance its other activities, increase knowledge exchange, and build leadership in the African water and sanitation sector through learning events, convening partners to build on its past and current activities, and push out multimedia content on strong leadership in the sector.
Resources
|
WALIS COVID-19 Response Video Video This video captures the USAID Water for Africa Through Leadership and Institutional Support (WALIS) response to COVID-19 in Senegal in interviews with local leaders and project staff (in French, with English subtitles). Since 2018, USAID’s WALIS… |
|
Combatting COVID-19 in Africa: Lessons Learned Series Volume 3: Senegal Case Studies This case study, part of the Lesson Learned Series by African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) and Water for Africa Through Leadership and Institutional Support (WALIS), addresses how sanitation is important in fighting both COVID-19 and gender… |
|
Combatting COVID-19 in Africa: Lessons Learned Series Volume 2 Case Studies AMCOW and WALIS have developed the Lessons Learned Series, which examines emerging experiences, knowledge, opportunities, and challenges of African-led WASH policy development and implementation. The Series also identifies individual country… |
|
Documenting a Common Understanding of the Sanitation Situation in Five African Countries Blog The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably raised awareness of the water and sanitation crisis in many of Africa’s developing nations. The enormous sanitation and hygiene challenges and opportunities were evident as the pandemic hit Africa and will only… |
|
Water and Sanitation for All: Senegal Works to Meet WASH Goals Case Studies Senegal is actively working to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), despite the low technical capacity of WASH institutions in the country. Senegal is particularly focused on monitoring and evaluation… |
Blog
Check out blogs by or about the WALIS program.
|
|
Documenting a Common Understanding of the Sanitation Situation in Five African Countries Blog The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably raised awareness of the water and sanitation crisis in many of Africa’s developing nations. The enormous sanitation and hygiene challenges and opportunities were evident as the pandemic hit Africa and will only… |
|
USAID Supports a Sanitation Revolution in Africa Blog Sustainable access to sanitation and hygiene has consistently lagged behind access to water in both the Millennium Development Goals (2000–2015) and the Sustainable Development Goals (2015–2030). According to the United Nations, six out of every 10… |
|
The Capacity Gap: Addressing Human Resource Needs in the WASH Sector Blog Low levels of investment in recruitment, education, and skills development in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector have resulted in significant shortages of skilled professionals needed to sustain WASH interventions and to satisfy the… |
|
Remote Sensing to Power Senegal’s Water Use Blog Lac de Guiers is a complex ecosystem south of the vast rice paddies along the Senegal River Delta in the Louga and Saint-Louis regions of Senegal. Not only does the lake and its surrounding land comprise an important bird area, fisheries, and… |
|
Women as WASH Leaders: Achieving Equitable Access to WASH Services in Ghana Blog Research has shown that the burden of water collection disproportionately affects women and children. Consequently, they also benefit the most from improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, as demonstrated in the Water and Development… |
Contact Us
If your organization would like to learn more about potential funding opportunities, partnerships, and events through WALIS please share your information below.
STAY IN TOUCH
