Guiding Principles for AIP Water Investment Scorecard Adopted

Guiding principles for the stakeholder-led development of the AIP Water Investment Scorecard have now been adopted by the Core and Technical Groups of partners.

The AIP Water Investment Scorecard will raise awareness among African Heads of State, Presidents, and government decisions makers on the need to address the water investment gap by tracking progress, and identifying bottlenecks in attracting investments to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation.

The Water Investment Scorecard will support countries to track water investments and progress in mobilizing resources, to identify bottlenecks, to enhance mutual accountability, and to take action to meet the investment needs for the achievement of SDG 6. The Scorecard will support the work of the International High Level Panel on Water for Africa. 

Overall AIP Water Investment Scorecard Guiding Principles

1. Alignment​

  • The Scorecard will be aligned to the AUDA-NEPAD Institutional Architecture for Infrastructure Development in Africa (IAIDA) in the implementation of PIDA PAP II​.
  • The indicators will be aligned and complement the AMCOW WASSMO theme on financing and investments and other global reporting systems on water and sanitation​.

2. Stakeholder Engagement​

  • Stakeholder engagement will be critical in driving the process to develop the AIP Scorecard. ​

3. Purpose and value addition​

  • The AIP Scorecard  objectives should be guided by a Theory of Change with clear inputs, outputs and outcomes contributing to the desired impact. This should be the basis of selecting indicators (quantitative and qualitative) for tracking water investments and setting baselines​
  • Indicators selected should take into consideration the target audience -  aimed at triggering action on water investments in Africa at the highest political level and identify  gaps that partners can respond to.

Guiding Principles for Selection of Thematic Areas and Indicators

4. Sustainability, reliability and practicability​

  • The AIP Scorecard will maintain a level of independence, making use of reliable data sources, to ensure that the Scorecard remains a trusted tool for decision makers and investors to support the acceleration of water investments in Africa​.
  • Indicators should be practical and measurable, taking into consideration context and capacities of the Member States​.
  • AIP Scorecard indicators will have a baseline which can be used to attribute causal inference over time​.

5. Inclusiveness​

  • The AIP Scorecard needs to identify cross-cutting issues for all the thematic areas (e.g. climate resilience, gender, youth, rural development, etc.).​
  • Indicators should consider measuring investments in infrastructure, information and institutions​.
  • The indicators selected should reflect the interests of different water sector investors and take a broad and comprehensive approach.

The coordination structure for the development of the AIP Water Investment Scorecard consists of the three main groups:

Strategic Leadership provided by the Steering Committee – H.E. Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki African Union Development Agency-NEPAD CEO, H.E. President Jakaya Kikwete Global Water Partnership Southern Africa - Africa Chair, African Ministers Council on Water, Osward Mulenga Chanda African Development Bank Water Director, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Her Excellency Chileshe Kapwepwe Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Secretary-General

Operation Leadership provided by the Core Group – African Union Development Agency - NEPAD, African Ministers' Council on Water, Development Bank of Southern Africa, African Development Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, World Bank, Global Water Partnership Southern Africa - Africa Coordination Unit

Technical support provided by the Technical Working Group, Experts, and Independent Reviewers – African Ministers' Council on Water, African Union Development Agency - NEPAD, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, World Health Organisation, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, International Union for Conservation of Nature, International Water Management Institute, Stockholm International Water Institute, River Basin Organisations, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Global Water Partnership Southern Africa - Africa Coordination Unit.

Following the adoption of the guiding principles, the Technical Working Group revised the initial thematic indicators. As a next step, these guiding principles will be presented to the Steering Committee. The AIP Water Investment Scorecard will be completed by the end of 2021.