AMREF  [to 22 March 2014]

AMREF joins global partners in advocating for integrated water and energy solutions
Excerpt
Water and energy have crucial impacts on poverty alleviation. Although access to water supply and sanitation in Africa has been steadily improving over the past two decades, a lot still needs to be done.  Often, the same people who lack access to improved water sources and sanitation also lack access to electricity.  Today, 1.3 billion people are in this situation; it is unacceptable and requires urgent attention. 768 million people across the globe lack access to improved water sources while 2.5 billion people do not have proper sanitation facilities.  About 340 million people in Africa do not have reasonable access to safe drinking water and nearly 230 million people defecate in the open. Despite these statistics, the continent is well endowed with fossil fuels: oil, gas and coal, and renewable resources: hydro-power and geothermal in particular. Yet access to modern affordable energy sources is still a challenge for many African nations.
This year, AMREF joins the world in celebrating World Water Day themed: Water and Energy.  In realising that water and energy are closely interlinked and interdependent, there is need to ensure that water resources are available to all, irrespective of their economic status.  Yet, these resources are scarce in developing economies even though generation and transmission of energy often requires utilisation of well-developed water resources.  Inequitable distribution of water resources has seen billions of people especially those who live in slums and rural areas suffer the consequences of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation facilities and energy services.
In most parts of Africa, the common reality for many women and children is that they have to carry 20 litres of the precious liquid and firewood for domestic energy use for very long distances of not less than one kilometre.  Sometimes it is not safe to collect firewood from the bushes thereby putting them in grave danger…
…In order to touch the lives of more disadvantaged communities, AMREF calls for the development of policies and crosscutting frameworks that will ensure the useful integrated approaches to water-energy issues to achieve greater economic and social impact.  We consistently advocate for energy access for all people living in Africa and better strategies that can benefit all across the continent.  We call on partners to ensure that the 1.3 billion people who have no access to sustainable energy get access because we are convinced that without access to energy, it will be difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

AMREF ‏@AMREF_Worldwide Mar 21
We join the world in celebrating #WorldWaterDay, and work to increase access to safe water in Africa. See how: http://bit.ly/1r6yoqq

AMREF USA ‏@AMREFUSA Mar 21
Unclean #water & poor sanitation has far-reaching effects. This is why we integrate #WASH programs: http://bit.ly/1im20vo  #WWD2014

AMREF UK @AMREF_UK Mar 17
Happy Monday folks! If you didn’t get a copy of our newsletter this Spring, you can have a read of it online here: http://www.amrefuk.org/news/publications/item/371-spring-newsletter-2014 …