To improve water management: African stakeholders adopt Yaounde Declaration.

The event gathered more than 2,000 participants, including over 500 delegates from 52 countries representing 338 public and private organizations, as well as technical and financial partners.

The closing ceremony was presided over by the Minister of Water Resources and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, alongside his Chadian counterpart, Marcelin Passalé Kanabé, and the Namibian Minister in charge of the sector. 

In total, sixty thematic sessions were organised, with 250 scientific and professional communications presented and 104 exhibitors mobilised, including 42 African institutions.

Stakeholders in the Yaounde Declaration called for the institutionalisation of integrated and resilient water resource management. 

It recommended the strengthening and protection of watersheds, improving knowledge of water resources through reliable data and modeling systems, and systematically integrating climate adaptation into sectoral planning.

Participants also placed strong emphasis on the performance of drinking water services. 

Operators were urged to modernise their networks through digitalisation, reduce water losses, and guarantee high-quality drinking water, particularly in rural, peri-urban and vulnerable communities. 

Sanitation was reaffirmed as a budgetary priority, with governments and local authorities encouraged to promote the reuse of treated wastewater and develop local value chains within a circular economy framework.

For the Executive Director of AfWASA, François Olivier Gosso, the Yaounde meetings marked “a structuring step in the recent evolution of the African water and sanitation sector”, highlighting the importance of coordinated action among African actors.

In his closing address, Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba urged African countries to move from reflection to concrete action. 

“Africa is no longer in the time of permanent diagnosis,” he stated, while calling for the effective implementation of the commitments adopted in Yaounde. 

The minister stressed that the congress resulted in concrete engagements toward universal access to drinking water and sanitation, while underlining the role of local authorities, technical and financial partners, women and young professionals in ensuring project sustainability.

The President of AfWASA, Dr Blaise Moussa, advocated for stronger internal resource mobilization to reduce dependence on external funding. 

He also expressed the wish for AfWASA to be recognised as an executing agency by the African Union and as an observer to the African Development Bank.

The Chadian Minister, Marcelin Passalé Kanabé praised the quality of the organization and called for strengthened African cooperation through the pooling of experiences, consolidation of partnerships and promotion of solutions adapted to the continent’s realities.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3706 of Tuesday February 17, 2026