A joint UK/Netherlands initiative to provide millions of people in Africa and Asia with safe drinking water and good sanitation was launched in New York on 24 September 2008 at the UN High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals.

Under the initiative, £85 million (€100 million) will be spent on helping 20 poor countries to draft and implement their own water and sanitation plans. A further £5 million (€6 million) will be allocated to an annual report and meeting to monitor progress. The first meeting will be convened by UNICEF in 2009.

A number of other commitments were made at the 'One World, One Dream: Sanitation and Water for All' event at the high-level meeting, including an undertaking by the Netherlands to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation for at least 50 million people by 2015. The Netherlands has already signed agreements that will benefit almost 30 million people, at a cost of around € 1.3 billion.

In total around US$ 16 billion (€ 11.7 billion) in new commitments were unveiled at the UN High-Level Event, including some US$ 1.6 billion (€ 1.2 billion) to bolster food security, more than US$ 4.5 billion (€ 3.3 billion) for education and US$ 3 billion (€ 2.2 billion) to combat malaria.

Related news: Monitoring: UK and Netherlands allocate €6 million, UN-Water presents pilot report. Source Weekly, 02 Oct 2008

Source: DFID, 25 Sep 2008; Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 25 Sep 2008 ; UN High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals: Committing to action: achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Compilation of Partnership Events and Commitments, 25 Sep 2008 ; UN, 25 Sep 2008

Tags: financing, monitoring & evaluation, policies & legislation, sanitation, water supply