After the SWA Steering Committee approved a profound Governance Review for the Partnership, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced their commitment to continue supporting the SWA partnership by funding its Secretariat.
The $1m grant for 2019 will be used to run the small team that serves as the Secretariat for the SWA partnership. This team coordinates and supports the partnership’ functioning and oversees the implementation of SWA’s Strategy and Results Framework.
Jeff Goldberg, Director of USAID's Office of Water, highlighted the importance of USAID support for the SWA partnership. "USAID's new Water and Development Plan under the U.S. Government Global Water Strategy underscores the importance of governance and finance to facilitate sustainable access to water and sanitation. SWA's multi-stakeholder approach to coordination and its emphasis on host-country government leadership is critical to achieving these goals."
Commenting on the news, Catarina de Albuquerque, SWA’s CEO said, “USAID and SWA share a vision of a world where people and nations have the access to water, sanitation and hygiene they need to be healthy, prosperous, and resilient. We also agree on how to get there: through government-led, multi-stakeholder, and evidence-based decision-making processes which are sustainable, efficient and transparent. We are very proud of the trust USAID has put in the partnership, not only as donor, but as partner which is engaged in and supports the work we do daily.”