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.

South Africa Children Collecting Water. Photo Credit: Reuters-Alamy Stock Photo

Overview

Despite significant investments over the past 30 years, hundreds of millions of people in Africa still do not have access to basic services or use safely managed drinking water and sanitation facilities. The COVID-19 pandemic further 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. WALIS focused 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.

For five years, WALIS strengthened 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 reinforced core program activities while strengthening the integration of WASH into COVID-19 response and research efforts. DAI led the WALIS Team and engaged with multiple partners and key investors in Africa’s WASH sector.

WALIS’s three Intermediate Results (IRs) were:

  1. WASH Policy and Governance: Foster transparent WASH sector multi-stakeholder leadership for evidence-based decision-making processes and better governance;
  2. Monitoring: Strengthen capacity of regional and national institutions for WASH sector monitoring, evaluation, and reporting; and,
  3. Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Increase levels of coordination, capacity development, communication, knowledge-sharing, and peer-to-peer learning among institutions within the African WASH sector.

 

WALIS Activities 2015-2021 

WALIS Activities 2015-2021

Girl Getting Water. Photo Credit: Nick Fox- Alamy Stock Photo

Partners

DAI Logo

THE WALIS TEAM AND ITS IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS

DAI engaged 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 included:

Women working together. Ariadne Van Zanderbergen / Alamy Stock Photo

Resources

Combatting COVID-19 in Africa: Lessons Learned Series Volume 5: Financial Impact Assessments Combatting COVID-19 in Africa: Lessons Learned Series Volume 5: Financial Impact Assessments
Case Studies

The financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis have impacted water utilities in Africa, including drastically reducing revenues in the short-term and slowing investments in the long-term, increasing operational costs, and dramatically…
Understanding the WASH Response to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa Understanding the WASH Response to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa
Technical Brief

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event in the present age that has raised questions about the national emergency WASH response in Africa. With the COVID-19 and WASH Response Study, the Water for Africa Through Leadership and Institutional…
Understanding the WASH Response to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa: Malawi Case Study Understanding the WASH Response to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa: Malawi Case Study
Case Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event in the present age that has raised questions about the national emergency Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) response in Africa. In February 2020, USAID tasked the Water for Africa Through…
Understanding the WASH Response to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa: Liberia Case Study Understanding the WASH Response to COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa: Liberia Case Study
Case Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event in the present age that has raised questions about the national emergency Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) response in Africa. In February 2020, the USAID tasked the Water for Africa Through…

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Blog

Check out blogs by or about the WALIS program.

Rwanda encourages citizen participation in decision making at all levels of public administration under a practice called “Imihigo.” Photo Credit: HTSPE/DAI Big Gains in Access to Safe Drinking Water: How Four African Countries Did It … and How Others Can, Too
Blog

In 1990, the East African nation of Ethiopia stood among the nations in most dire need of water development. Seventeen years of war had left its government and systems in disarray. Only 11 percent of its more than 48 million people had access…
Attendees Snapshot from Stockholm: Building Africa’s Leadership in Sanitation Recap
Blog

This is the first in a series of blogs in which participants provide a recap of their Stockholm World Water Week event. USAID’s Water for Africa through Leadership and Institutional Support (WALIS) project was one of the panelists for a Stockholm…
Host Minister for AMCOW's 15th Anniversary Celebration and Executive Committee meetings and Minister of Water Resources in Nigeria Suleiman Adamu presents Peter Mahal Akat, Direct General at the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in South Sudan, with a gift of appreciation for his attendance. Photo credit: Emmanual C. Uguru/AMCOW Strategy to Help Achieve Access for All
Blog

According to the 2015 WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme 435 million Africans lacked basic drinking water service, and 736 million Africans lacked basic sanitation service.   In November 2017, the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW…
Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Secretary of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), speaks at Stockholm World Water Week. Photo credit: AMCOW 7th Africa Water Week: Canisius Kanangire and Richard Rapier on Strategic Planning for Africa’s Water and Sanitation Sectors
Blog

“The changes on the African continent are very much alarming—when we talk of sanitation and look at the growth of the populations in Africa, and also the urbanization phenomenon, with the growth of slums,” said Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive…
Africa Water Week Closing Plenary. Photo Credit: Anahit Gevorgyan AMCOW looks to accelerate progress towards the SDG 2030 Agenda: Key Takeaways from the 7th Africa Water Week
Blog

Three years after the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 Agenda was adopted, the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) convened the 7th Africa Water Week (AWW) in Libreville, Gabon. The biennial event offers a unique opportunity for…

Rwanda encourages citizen participation in decision making at all levels of public administration under a practice called “Imihigo.” Photo credit: HTSPE/DAI

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