AAAP in the Media
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Freetown WASH and Aquatic Environment Revamping Program
Water and sanitation coverage in Sierra Leone is estimated at 58% and 13% respectively of the country’s 7 million inhabitants. Urban water supply coverage is estimated at 74% and urban sanitation coverage at 23%. The densely populated capital city, Freetown, is part of the urban WASH sub-sector. The poor water and sanitation services in the city exacerbate the negative effects of the dense settlement. Women and children bear the overwhelming burden of collecting water in water-starved communities in the city.
The city has less than 4 km of sewers, which discharge directly into the seas without any form of treatment. The poor water and situation is further aggravated by the intense encroachment into and widespread degradation of the Western Area Protected Forest, which forms the watershed and the only water lifeline for the capital city.
The Bank has been actively engaged in the water sector in Sierra Leone for over a decade and has accumulated significant experience in the environment.
The overall objective of the Freetown WASH and Aquatic Environment Revamping Program is to improve water supply and sanitation services while ensuring the sustainability of the vital aquatic ecosystem in the Western Area/Freetown.
Specific actions/objectives are:
- Water Supply Infrastructure Improvement
- Integrated Infrastructure Improvement
- Capacity for IWRM and Livelihood Improvement
- Project Management
The project aims to achieve a 15% increase in access to safe water supply and a 7% increase in access to improved sanitation in Freetown.
- GCA specialised technical expertise in the area of climate resilient water resource management, catchment protection, and NBS.
- GCA to prepare a detailed term sheet and financial model how the financial structure is financially viable (risk return) in order to achieve the proposal’s objectives, determining the level of concessionally, and demonstrating the coherence between the selected financial instruments, proposed activities and overall project financial structure.
- Rehabilitated and expanded water treatment, transmission, storage and distribution systems.
- Improved solid and liquid waste collection, treatment and disposal services.
- Established infrastructure and enhanced capacity for the effective protection of the Western Area Protected Forest/Watershed.
- Promotion good sanitation, hygiene and child nutrition practices of the primary beneficiaries while facilitating their gainful participation in the improvement of WASH services.
- The project will directly benefit an estimated 1,400,000 people (51% women) benefitted through access to safe water, including new access for 1,000,000 people and restoration of a regular daily water service for 400,000 people.
- Over 2,700 jobs created.
- The Freetown peninsular watershed restored, and impact of the extreme climate events to living conditions reduced.
US$164 million.
US$43 million requested from GCF
Global Center on Adaptation and African Development Bank call for applications for the African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and the African Development Bank have launched a call for applications for the first edition of the African Youth Adaptation Solutions (YouthAdapt) Challenge.
The call encourages young entrepreneurs, innovators from micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and other youth-led and youth-owned enterprises in Africa, to implement solutions for building resilience and adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change. Young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 are invited to respond to the call for the expression of interest and submit their business plan through the official submission portal.
With a strong focus on youth and gender, winners of the YouthAdapt Challenge will be awarded business grants of up to $100,000 each and the opportunity to participate in a 12-month business accelerator program to help them scale up their businesses, deepen their impact and create decent jobs. In addition, the winning youth-led enterprises will be provided with mentorship and support to expand partnerships, knowledge sharing and learning through a network of young entrepreneurs in climate adaptation.
The African Youth Adaptations Solutions Challenge is part of the ‘Empowering Youth through Jobs and Entrepreneurship’ pillar of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), a strategic partnership between the GCA and the African Development Bank aimed at galvanizing climate-resilient actions through a triple win approach to address the impacts of Covid-19, climate change and the economy.
The competition aims to leverage the resources, complementary expertise and networks of both organizations to support the ‘missing-middle’ of mid-sized companies in the areas of funding, thereby promoting sustainable climate adaptation and resilience practices on the African continent.
Announcing the YouthAdapt Challenge to a group of global leaders at the High-Level Dialogue: The Adaptation Acceleration Imperative for COP26 held in Rotterdam, Netherlands on Monday 6th September 2021, Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation said: “Our vision is to empower one million young people in Africa with the financing and skills they need to pursue jobs and careers in climate adaptation. With this new challenge we aim to unlock the business opportunities in adaptation action by innovative youth-owned enterprises and prepare a new generation of African youth for the transition towards green and climate-resilient development.”
“The YouthAdapt Challenge will unleash the entrepreneurial drive and capacities of African youth to grow their businesses, address the continent’s pressing climate challenge and create decent jobs, building a more climate-resilient Africa”, said Akinwumi Adesina, African Development Bank’s President, affirming the Bank’s commitment to invest in the youth.
Twenty youth-led enterprises will be shortlisted at the end of the application window on 6th October 2021 and invited to submit videos for a jury panel review ahead of the finals and an award ceremony at COP26 in Glasgow on November 8, 2021. At this event, ten winners will be selected, 50% of which will be women-led enterprises.