The  second phase of the Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Programme  was officially inaugurated early this month at  a launch workshop held in Nairobi from 3 to 6 May, 2011.

The up-scaling of the  UN-HABITAT Programme represents a tangible outcome of a strategic partnership between UN-HABITAT, the East African Community and the African Development Bank and the success of the first phase which was initiated by the agency in 2006, in collaboration with the governments of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

The second phase will target 15 secondary towns in the five East African Countries and will include investments in water supply, environmental sanitation, urban drainage and capacity building aimed at achieving the millennium development goals  for water and sanitation and contributing to the reversal of pollution of Lake Victoria.

The second phase is being funded by a grant from the AfDB of approximately US$110 million. A portion of the grant has been allocated for training and capacity building activities to be implemented by UN-HABITAT.

The launch workshop was attended by representatives of UN-HABITAT, the African Development Bank, the East African Community Secretariat and the five East African Countries. In her remarks at the opening ceremony, the UN-HABITAT representative, Ms. Anne Malebo emphasized the organisation’s commitment to work closely with the EAC, the Bank and all stakeholders to enhance the capacity of the governments, town-level institutions, service providers  and communities to ensure the long term sustainability of the programme.

During the workshop, the programme stakeholders agreed to a schedule of activities to complete all pre-conditions for the ADB grant by June 30th, 2011 so that implementation activities can commence in July, 2011. The programme is expected to be completed by December 30th, 2014 and will extend water, sanitation and solid waste management services to nearly one million persons.