THE CHALLENGES OF FINANCING SANITATION IN SUB-SAHARAN COUNTRIES AFRICA: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE

There is a critical need for governments in the region to realize the magnitude of the challenge in order to proactively respond to it. This means that for the region to meet its sanitation goals, these governments must prioritize sanitation in their national budgets. While the scale of sanitation challenges differs from one country to another, common bottlenecks arise from the pace of demographic growth, rapid urbanization and growth of informal settlements. All these factors are further aggravated by poverty, a critical developmental challenge that has continued to undermine the efforts of most governments. The irony however, is the fact that sanitation can considerably alleviate poverty, but due to other competing priorities such as education, health, environment, gender equality and economic growth, sanitation is least prioritized at all levels of governance. This phenomenon explains why majority of African people cannot access basic sanitation. This paper examines the challenges of financing sanitation in sub-Saharan countries, focusing on (i) what is to be financed (ii) how much will it cost (iii) policy shifts to remedy the situation. The paper concludes by suggesting pertinent recommendations.