N'Djamena Declaration: Making Water Work for People, Food Systems, Planet, and Prosperity in Africa

Accelerating Water Investments for People, Food Systems, Planet, for Africa’s Prosperity. We, the African States and Governments, the representatives’ of regional organizations, Transboundary Basin Organizations meeting in N'Djamena, Republic of Chad, on July 15-16, 2026 on the occasion of the African Water Forum.Reaffirmations and observations Reaffirming that water is the foundation of life, health, human dignity, food security, water security, economic growth, job creation, food systems transformation, climate resilience, peace and sustainable development; Reaffirming that water is a key lever for achieving several strategic priorities, including achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the African Union's Agenda 2063, the national development strategies of our countries, including climate commitments, and rolling out the Water Forward initiative launched by the World Bank at the 2026 Spring Meetings; Recognizing that Africa has significant water resources, the sustainable management of which has the potential to transform economies, strengthen livelihoods and accelerate shared and inclusive prosperity in the continent; Concerned that hundreds millions of Africans lack access to safe and sustainable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services, while droughts, floods, climate variability, ecosystem degradation, rapid urbanization, and fragility put increasing pressure on water resources; Recognizing that addressing these challenges requires strong institutions, accountable and high-performing service providers, ambitious reforms, planning, enhanced regional cooperation, increased mobilization of public and private financing, concessional, and innovative financing, as well as an enable environment conducive to innovation, entrepreneurship, woman empowerment and investment;We agree to accelerate action around the following priorities: 1. Water for People: Ensure universal, equitable, affordable, sustainable, and resilient access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, with special attention to vulnerable populations, women, youth, rural areas, poor urban neighborhoods, rapidly growing cities, African megacities, schools, health facilities, and crisis-affected communities. 2. Water for Food Systems: Develop and modernize sustainable water infrastructures and irrigation systems, irrigation equipment, agricultural and oasis canals, reservoirs, and pastoral stations, within an integrated water-energy-food nexus approach, in order to transform the agriculture and livestock sectors, strengthen producers' resilience to climate shocks, and create jobs along agri-food value chains, both in rural, semi urban and urban areas. 3. Water for the Planet: Protect and restore rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, oases, water sills, and watersheds; promote nature-based solutions; strengthen integrated water resources management (IWRM), including aquifer mapping, sustainable exploitation, and recharge; speed international cooperation among transboundary basins; and improve adaptation to droughts, floods, and climate change impacts through resilient infrastructure, strategic storage, and early warning systems, to preserve ecosystems and future generations. We also commit to making water a strategic economic infrastructure and a central driver of economic transformation by accelerating investments in water infrastructure, water transport, distribution, irrigation, cities, energy, industry, mining, and tourism; Strengthening productive value chains and, where appropriate, African capacities for the supply of water-sector equipment and services; and creating an enabling environment for private investment, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We recognize the critical role of the private sector as a strategic partner in the transformation of the water sector, through financing, design, innovation, digitalization, maintenance, capacity building, solutions development, services delivery, and the creation of jobs, including public-private partnerships, delegated management, concessions and innovative financing mechanisms.To achieve these goals, we commit to:Strengthen the governance, operational performance financial sustainability and accountability of water sector institutions and operators, including through digitalization, reduction of non-revenue water, and continuous improvement of service quality;Accelerate reforms to improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of services;Increase public investments and create an enabling environment for mobilizing private, concessional and / or innovative financing in the water sector including from regional and multilateral development banks, institutional investors, and other financing mechanisms tailored to national contexts;Create an enabling environment for private sector participation, by strengthening regulatory frameworks, project preparation, risk-sharing facilities and public-private partnerships, delegated management and concessions;Promoting data, digital technologies, innovation, early warning systems, and capacity building to improve planning, system performance, and results monitoring ;Promote the participation of local governments, women, youth, civil society, and the private sector in water governance;Strengthen regional and transboundary cooperation by consolidating the role of Transboundary Basin Organizations as platforms for dialogue, planning and joint investments;We call: on countries and Transboundary Basin Organizations to develop and implement Water Compacts as investment and implementation instruments, outlining investment priorities, priority project portfolios, sectors reforms financing needs, national commitments, partner contributions, and coordination mechanisms to accelerate results for people, food systems, the planet, and prosperity. on international financial institutions, multilateral development banks and bilateral partners, technical and financial partners, private investors, businesses and philanthropic foundations to join forces to mobilize financing, share risks, support innovation and accelerate transformative investments. upon development partners to support large-scale, long-term programs such as the Water Development, Resilience and Enhancement Program for West Africa (DREVE) initiated by the World Bank in partnership with countries of the Sahel and West and Central Africa.Implementation and monitoring: Governments are invited to translate commitments into budgetary frameworks, mobilizing domestic resources commensurately; technical and financial partners to align their interventions around these priorities, strengthen their coordination, and translate their commitments into predictable and sustainable financing; the private sector is encouraged to increase its participation through innovative investments and mobilizing its expertise to accelerate the implementation of solutions. The States, in collaboration with partners, will ensure regular monitoring of the implementation of national and regional programs, particularly through national and regional compacts, appropriate indicators, periodic review mechanisms dashboards where relevant, and sharing of results, in order to measure progress made and adapt actions based on emerging needs and challenges.Conclusion: We reaffirm our commitment to making Water a key enabler for food systems transformation, climate resilience, job creation, shared prosperity, peace, and regional integration in Africa. Adopted at N'Djamena, Republic of Chad, on July 15, 2026.