The Minister of Water and Irrigation, Pal Mai Deng disclosed this while closing the Second Joint Sector Review on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Juba.
Development partners, national and state ministries attended the conference.
“The conference developed a clear roadmap to transition from humanitarian dependency to sustainable development in all sectors, especially the WASH sector, to achieve sustainable development,” said Deng.
“Also, this served as a precedent towards a clear, concise, and implementable WASH policy, hinged on a transparent delivery system based on a well-defined institutional framework for the WASH sector,” he added.
The minister said they are committed to achieving targets in the WASH sector.
The Representative of the UN Children Fund (UNICEF), Hamida Lasseko said their key priority is to support and strengthen the WASH sector across the country to achieve sustainable WASH services and accelerate improvement in particular.
Focus, she said, is on improving water supply, proper sanitation and hygiene.
“Our support to the government in conducting this WASH joint sector review is an effort to bring together key actors from all the subnational governments and other stakeholders to strengthen WASH systems and mobilize support and resources to fill the gaps and address the challenges in water and sanitation affecting the children of South Sudan,” stressed Lasseko.
The Deputy Head of Mission in the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Sudan, Bouwe-Jan Smeding said major donors such as the United States, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands are committed to supporting the people of South Sudan to attain healthy, productive and prosperous communities where everyone assesses safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
“To achieve the WASH targets, the government of South Sudan needs to take the lead in coordinating partner activities, increase funding to the sector and create one vision for WASH in South Sudan,” he said.
Meanwhile, access to basic water supply has fallen from 41% in 2010 to 39% in 2020, figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF show.
