Interview: Water Security, Stability and Women’s Leadership in Africa’s Water Future

March 23, 2026

• Tamara Bah

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In this interview, representatives from the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) discuss how the Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy (AWV63&P) reframes water security as a peace and governance issue, and why women’s leadership is central to climate-resilient water stability and their new way of “doing business.”

Water security in Africa is more than a technical challenge. It is a question of stability, climate resilience, and social equity. To address these complex emerging issues, the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) developed the Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy (AWV63&P), a forward-looking framework that links sustainable water management with climate adaptation and peacebuilding. Central to the Vision and Policy is Aspiration 6 of the African Union Agenda 2063, which positions women’s leadership as essential to protecting water as a global commons and fostering resilient communities.

In this interview, AMCOW representatives discuss how the Vision was developed, the transformative strategies embedded within it, the lessons it holds for advancing gender-responsive water security across the continent, and how the AMCOW is being held to account on its commitment to women, peace, and security.

Q: How did the Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy come to be, and what problem was it created to solve?

The Africa Water Vision 2025, launched in 2000, aimed to ensure equitable and sustainable water use to support poverty reduction, economic development, regional cooperation, and environmental protection. Its framework focused on strengthening governance, improving knowledge, meeting urgent water needs, and increasing financing. After 25 years, monitoring reports showed that Africa is off track toward achieving the target. Key challenges include insufficient public investment, rapid population growth, urbanization outpacing service delivery, and the growing impacts of climate change. In response, the African Union (AU) and AMCOW were mandated to develop the AWV63&P, aligned with Agenda 2063’s goal of a prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable Africa.

Q: The Vision positions women’s leadership as foundational to water security under Aspiration 6. What experiences convinced AMCOW this was necessary?

AMCOW has always prioritized gender inclusion at the highest political levels. These are evident in the following political commitments amongst others: AWV 2025, Sharm El Sheikh 2008, Sirte 2004, PANAFCON-1 2003, eThekwini 2008, Johannesburg 2009, AMCOW Gender 2014. The 2024 AMCOW Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Report indicates that while positive improvements have been made in gender mainstreaming in water governance on the continent, gaps remain in implementation. AMCOW’s reports over the years and the situation assessment conducted prior to the development of the AWV63&P provided evidence for prioritizing gender in the vision and policy. Additionally, under the Partners Coordination Platform, there is a Gender cluster responsible to provide technical evidence and guide the group on gender matters.

Q: Many policies include gender-responsive language. What makes the Africa Water Vision genuinely transformative rather than consultative?

AWV63&P is not just a policy document, it is a continental blueprint that will guide Africa to the next 37 years. It calls for systemic change that redistributes power, access and benefits to women, youth, grassroots organisations and marginalised communities. It also sets institutional milestones for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), structured engagement and leadership representation, which moves the agenda from consultation to institutional, enforceable governance change. Beyond this, the implementation approach will be crafted and driven by Member States and partners themselves. From the development to its execution, Member States are in the driving seat, indicating strong ownership that will certainly translate to implementation.

Q: The Vision sets concrete targets, such as women’s representation in local water committees and female enrolment in water engineering fields. What mechanisms will make these achievable?

Several mechanisms are being proposed: country-specific Youth and Gender Inclusion (YoGI) strategies; community engagement in decision-making; grassroots capacity building; partnerships with women’s and youth organisations; scholarship programmes; and gender-responsive budgeting and procurement. AWV63&P adds gender-balanced multistakeholder engagement, leadership targets in basin institutions, vocational water academies, and 30 percent female enrollment in water and sanitation engineering programmes. Additionally, during the subregional consultations, Member States will have an opportunity to shape these mechanisms and propose what initiative they would implement to achieve success. A call will be made to partners to submit initiatives to support the realization of set targets.

Q: How will AMCOW measure success? What indicators will show real empowerment, reduced discrimination, or improved safety for women and girls?

Indicators will be developed consultatively with member states, implementing partners and the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) experts. The good news is that AMCOW already monitors and reports progress on water and sanitation annually. So, the existing system will be updated with agreed indicators for gender, leveraging expertise from the Partners Coordination Gender Cluster.

Q: Where do you anticipate the greatest resistance: political, institutional, or cultural? 

We may not refer to implementation challenges as resistance but rather gaps that should be bridged to accelerate access. This could be institutional gaps – where there are policy gaps, poor implementation, weak leadership, weak governance and inadequate funding. Cultural norms – where there are stereotypes, taboos and socially assigned gender roles. To achieve success, capacity development and behavior change need to be at the forefront.

Q: If global leaders listen to one message from AMCOW in 2026 regarding women’s peace and security, what should it be?

Women’s inclusion in water governance is an issue of peace and security. The AWV63&P under Aspiration 6, also links gender equality to women’s empowerment and ending violence and discrimination against women and girls. So, the message would be “to build water security, climate resilience or peace, women must be an integral part of water governance and decision-making.”

Q: What misconception about women’s leadership do donors still have? What is one decision that would accelerate progress?

It is not clear whether or not donors have misconceptions about women’s leadership. However, donors are always keen to see that project proposals itemize clearly how intending projects will benefit women and their level of involvement from the inception through design and implementation. Emphasising that women’s leadership should not be treated as symbolic inclusion or a welfare add-on. The most concrete accelerating decision stated would be for donors to support YoGI integration in all donor-funded programmes and to fund YoGI-related activities, especially for people most at risk of being left behind.

This interview was conducted by Tamara Bah, Climate Lead at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security (GIWPS). She advocates for women on the frontlines of climate change, urban resilience, and disaster risk management to have decision-making power, equitable access to climate financing, and leadership in building resilient and secure communities. In her opinion, this conversation highlights that water security in Africa is fundamentally a question of climate stability, governance, and peace. AWV63&P reflects an important shift in recognizing women as central to climate-resilient water security, but the real test will be whether this translates into tangible changes in power, resources, and outcomes on the ground. The lessons from Vision 2025 show that without sustained financing, accountability, and political prioritization, even strong frameworks fall short. 

From a climate-water security-WPS perspective, water insecurity is already a driver of instability, and women are at the center of managing its impacts. The key question moving forward is whether there is sufficient political will from member states to operationalize it at scale and deliver more equitable and stable outcomes for women and girls across Africa.

Mr. Nelson Gomonda, the Director of Programmes at AMCOW provides strategic leadership to the Secretariat’s programmes directorate. Together with the programme’s team, he serves as a fundamental support to the Executive Secretary towards the delivery of AMCOW’s overall mission. Comfort Kanshio serves as AMCOW’s Policy Officer, focusing on Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene as well as the Gender Focal point. Emmanuel Chimezie Uguru is the  Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Support Officer at AMCOW, doubling as the youth focal point. 

This article is part of a series. GIWPS is engaging civil society networks, implementing NGOs, and local women to highlight pioneers on the frontlines who are developing and implementing localized and national solutions, policies, and programming at the intersection of gender, climate, and conflict.