Water Voices United
Zambia,
ongoing
A 48-month civil society organisation strengthening initiative in Zambia supported by the European Union.
The Water Voices United project is a 48-month initiative to strengthen Zambia’s WASH civil society organisations (CSOs) capacities for coordination and to advocate and support the Zambian Government in accelerating human rights to water, sanitation, and a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
Zambia remains off track in realising universal access to basic water and sanitation by 2030. The latest JMP report revealed that the national average access to basic water was 68% and 36% for basic sanitation, with significant disparities between rural and urban areas. For Zambia to overcome these challenges, several factors must come into play, including the need for a stronger, more capable, and better-organised CSO representation of rights holders.
A CSO-capacity building project
The Water Voices United project, co-funded by the European Union (EU) and Danish People’s Aid, seeks to increase CSOs' influence and impact. Initiated in February 2024, this € 3.6 million partnership between SNV and the Zambian NGO WASH Forum manifests the EU’s commitment to strengthening CSOs.
The NGO WASH Forum is an umbrella organisation that brings together more than 40 CSOs in Zambia. A long-standing partner of SNV, the Forum has been steadily contributing to crucial policy dialogues and decision-making processes in the WASH sector.
As an umbrella organisation, the Forum additionally operates as a knowledge hub for linking WASH issues with the broader themes of gender equality, social inclusion, and climate change.
As part of SNV’s continued partnership with the Forum through the Water Voices United project, the partnership commits to cascading methods and tools that advance good and accountable governance in development programming. These include, for example:
Improving the forum’s and its member CSOs’ internal management systems.
Strengthening the forum’s and its members’ capacities to engage in policy dialogue, implementation, and monitoring of EU-supported and national development plans and programmes.
Improving technical, coordination, and networking skills.
SNV for CS strengthening
Since 1965, SNV has had an enduring partnership with the Government of Zambia to build and strengthen its civil society.
The Water Voices United project is inspired by lessons from the Voices for Change Partnership (V4CP) multi-country project, an initiative supported by the Netherlands Government between 2016 and 2020. Through the V4CP, SNV contributed to the capacity development of 51 local CSOs across five countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Honduras, and Indonesia), placing great emphasis on the use of verifiable and credible evidence in launching advocacy activities and effectively driving change.
Our donors and partners
CS building for inclusive WASH
In light of extreme weather changes and growing uncertainties caused by the climate crisis, the Water Voices United Project in Zambia represents our continued commitment to building civil society. This initiative contributes to securing various human rights and ensuring the sustainability of water and sanitation (WASH) services and investments.
Read, for example, the partnership’s efforts in Nakonde, Zambia.