The West Africa Water Initiative (WAWI) is supported by an alliance including CIIFAD, several NGOs, donor organizations, foundations, universities, and a private sector industry association. WAWI works with communities and governments in Ghana, Mali, and Niger to:

• increase the access to sustainable, safe water and environmental sanitation for poor and vulnerable communities in rural and peri-urban settings
• reduce the prevalence of water-borne and sanitation-related diseases, particularly trachoma, guinea worm and diarrheal diseases through the promotion of personal hygiene and environmental sanitation practices
• ensure ecologically, financially, and socially sustainable management of water quantity and quality, and
• foster a new model of partnership and institutional synergy to ensure technical excellence, programmatic innovation, and long-term financial, social and environmental sustainability in water resources management that may be replicable in other parts of the world.

As an implementing partner in the WAWI consortium, CIIFAD provides facilitation in applied problem-focused agriculture and natural resource management issues throughout the project zones in Ghana, Mali, and Niger. CIIFAD also strives to build and develop professional capacities and strengthen partnerships with collaborating institutions, regarding these as complementary foci to WAWI’s principal goals of increasing access to safe water and enhancing ecological, financial, and social sustainability of water through participatory, problem-focused research and development.

Through funding made available by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, CIIFAD has been implementing a number of projects in Ghana and Mali, with an expanding effort to initiate programs in Niger.  For more information on WAWI, contact Terry Tucker, twt2@cornell.edu.