Kolawole Banwo is an environmental advocate. He is the head of advocacy, policy and communication of WaterAid Nigeria. In this interview by Kingsley Alumona, he speaks about their work at WaterAid, the implementation of the new African Sanitation Policy Guidelines (ASPG) policy, the recent flooding in Nigeria, open defecation, among others.
What is waterAid about? And, how and when was WaterAid institutionalised in Nigeria?
WaterAid is an international non-governmental organisation set up in 1981. It promotes access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in about 34 countries. We believe that everyone everywhere has a right to clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene.
We commenced work in Nigeria in 1995. We adopt a system-strengthening approach by undertaking some service delivery to demonstrate workable solutions and models, then advocate and influence government to adapt, upscale and replicate them to expand citizens’ access the WASH services.
There are currently six states WaterAid is working in. How does the organisation fund its projects in these states?
The projects are funded with support from donor organisations, international development and private-sector organisations that share our values and vision to promote access to WASH. We also deploy internal funding received through donations from ordinary citizens and charity groups who believe in our cause.
What are the basic processes required to bring WaterAid to a state in Nigeria?
We believe in focusing on a location and achieving deep results rather than spreading ourselves. So, we have focal states where we have been working for over eight years. We, however, also have project states where we have ongoing interventions based on partners’ focus.
A state will need to demonstrate readiness to lead the process, create the enabling environment with policies, clear plans and commit resources through adequate financing through budgets to sustain reforms and increasing access. Then they can formally communicate their need for support which we look at on a case-by-case basis to determine if we are able to provide the support they request, especially technical support, at that point in time.
Your organisation has partnership with WASH Media Network and NEWSAN. Tell us about these organisations and how they assist your work.
Collaboration is critical to our vision and strategy. NEWSAN is the network of civil society organisations working in the WASH sector. They support our work by promoting local ownership and context-specific advocacy to ensure sustainability. They also complement us through their own independent programmes and projects due to their presence at the state level.
WASH Media are partners who help deepen our work through providing timely and relevant information and education on WASH issues, setting agenda for government and demanding accountability through analytical reportage and investigative journalism.
Working with them helps to intensify advocacy and mobilise citizens to demand their rights to sustainable WASH services.
Your organisation recently initiated an advocacy for Nigerian government to adopt and implement the African Sanitation Policy Guidelines (ASPG) policy. What is the ASPG about?
The African Sanitation Policy Guidelines (ASPG) are designed to provide guidance to governments of African countries on the review, revision, and development of sanitation policies and implementation strategies through an inclusive and participatory process. This is to ensure that the policies are comprehensive, fit-for-purpose and are actually implemented.
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It was developed by the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW) and launched in 2021.
What necessitated the adoption and implementation of the ASPG policy across Nigeria?
We are promoting the adaptation of the ASPG in Nigeria because sanitation falls within the remit of multiple ministries, departments, and agencies, resulting in overlaps and risk of inefficiency, conflict and waste. To address these gaps and achieve maximum impacts, especially in safely managed sanitation in line with the SDGs, synergy, collaboration and cohesion in sector planning, programme implementation, financing, monitoring, evaluation, and course correction are critical.
Having a common policy co-created by the respective stakeholders and clarifying but aligning of mandates and roles, is the best foundation for achieving this. Such a WASH policy, as envisaged by the ASPG, presents an opportunity to realising this synergy.
When it comes to projects that involve many ministries — in this case, ministries of water resource, environment, finance, etc. — there are always clashes of mandates. As regard the ASPG, how are you going to approach these ministries — both at the national and state levels — to get them to successfully work together to implement the ASPG policy?
There are already several inter-ministerial coordinating platforms addressing this gap with varying levels of success. The policy development process will build on this. At the federal level, we already have a Policy Review Working Group (PRWG) to be co-chaired by the federal ministries of water resources and environment, which are the ministries with the dominant mandates. The PRWG is however made up of other line ministries, about nine of them, including those that you have listed, that are already members of the existing coordination platforms such as the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS).
This will lead the policy development process to ensure that every stakeholder, both state and non-state, participates fully to co-create the policy, co-own and ultimately co-implement it when approved.
There will be a change of government in May, 2023. What plans and strategies is your organisation putting in place to ensure that a change of government would not delay or stall the implementation of the ASPG policy?
The PRWG is composed of technical persons within the respective ministries with technical persons and the bureaucracy well entrenched. This will ensure that progress is recorded, and the process is insulated from the political transition. The institutional memory by the active participants will ensure that new political officers are well briefed and onboarded whenever they assume office so that there will be irreversible progress and seamless transition.
What steps are you taking to ensure that the government and the citizenry properly get this ASPG advocacy and implement it for their own benefits?
We are undertaking high-level advocacy to relevant key stakeholders which include government, civil societies, the media and development partners. We are planning series of awareness-raising activities. The NEWSAN and WASH Media have also developed an advocacy and media plan to support the advocacy and sensitisation using multiple media platforms. We believe this will go a long way to creating the needed momentum.
Nigerian government plans to end open defecation by 2030. Giving the high rate of poverty and low sensitisation programmes in rural communities, do you think this is feasible within this timeline?
We are behind, going by the current data. However, the major gaps have been identified to be state-level uptake and action, and funding for the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign.
Stakeholders have therefore intensified advocacy for increased state-level action and innovative funding, especially through the private sector. If the commitments we have received during the recently concluded World Toilet Summit are translated into action, we should achieve substantial progress in providing toilets for the 113 million Nigerians that have no access and changing the bahaviour of the 48 million that defecate in the open, even if we do not meet the target.
How would you rate President Muhammadu Buhari’s government in handling of the recent floods in many states of the country, both in terms of evacuation and provision of relief materials?
This is outside my area of coverage. But, ideally, it is the duty of states to adequately prepare for and respond to emergencies such as flood. That is why they have state emergency management agencies. The federal government is only expected to complement these efforts. From what I read in the media, the states were overwhelmed and could not respond appropriately and so shifted attention to the federal government which I think did the best possible within the confines of a federal structure.
About 33 states were affected and that was enormous considering the state of the nations’ resources. I think the states should be doing more.
What are the challenges WaterAid faces in Nigeria, and how does it manage them?
One of our major challenges is coping with the high expectations from the people we serve, as is the case with donor organisations. This arises from the huge WASH gap and not too clear understanding of how we work. Citizens want service and so when you emphasise policies, planning, strategy, etc., it appears far-fetched. We manage this by intensifying our communications on our ways of working to do some and influence the rest.
Also, getting governments to prioritise WASH among several competing needs means that we are not able to record the rapid progress we believe Nigerians deserve. As an organisation, no matter how much resources you have, you can only do as much. This is why we intensify advocacy and influencing.
Finally, getting citizens to understand how WASH, especially hygiene, can address poverty when they are barely able to afford food can be a challenge. So, we continue to re-think our approaches, communication, and advocacy strategies.
We reach out to new partners and consider innovative ways of working and providing solutions to address these challenges.
