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Former African Development Bank Director of Water Development and Sanitation, Osward Chanda, has urged Zambia and other African countries to strengthen water and sanitation governance systems, saying weak structures at local-government level continue to undermine progress in the sector.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Tuesday, Chanda said poor governance, low prioritisation of water-sector investment and limited delivery capacity remained among the most critical challenges facing countries such as Zambia and Uganda.
He said meaningful improvements required systemic transformation rather than incremental reforms.
Delivering a keynote address at the 9th Uganda Water and Environment Week, Chanda said governance was the foundation for effective water and environmental management.
He noted that although many national policies aligned with global commitments, implementation gaps persisted due to weak accountability and mismatches in planning.
Chanda called for a stronger investment case for water and environmental protection, backed by robust project designs and feasibility studies to attract competitive financing.
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He said financing constraints could be eased through more efficient internal budgeting, blended-finance models and improved risk-management measures to help reduce borrowing costs.
He also stressed the importance of balancing upward accountability to central government with downward accountability to communities and service users.
Chanda urged stakeholders to assess whether global commitments had been adequately domesticated into national plans, accompanied by sufficient financing and measurable results.
He outlined a reform roadmap involving institutional strengthening, better understanding of political-economy dynamics, greater use of youth-driven innovation and mainstreaming inclusiveness across all interventions.
Chanda said aligning governance, financing, innovation and capacity development into a unified reform agenda would help African countries seize emerging opportunities for long-term transformation in the water and environment sectors.
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