(Pretoria) The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announces Resilient Waters, a five-year, $32.4 million project to address severe water challenges facing the Limpopo River Basin and Okavango River Basin communities.

Resilient Waters will work to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation services for nearly 21 million people spanning South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, and Namibia. The project also will improve management of transboundary natural resources, conserve biodiversity, and strengthen ecological infrastructure needed to maintain healthy water systems. USAID will cooperate with Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) structures, such as the River Basin Organizations and Transfrontier Conservation Areas in the region, to implement the project.

USAID/Southern Africa Mission Director John Groarke said Resilient Waters is an important step toward addressing the serious water and climate change challenges facing the region.

“I visit projects across Southern Africa, and for many of them, lack of access to clean water and sanitation is an obstacle to progress. The Resilient Waters project will focus on a problem that underlies development throughout this region.”

The project reflects the U.S. Government’s Global Water Strategy, which supports efforts to achieve a water-secure world, where people and nations have the water they need to be healthy, prosperous, and resilient.

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