The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have set a target to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
Many countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region, where the European Investment Bank (EIB) operates under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, are still far from meeting this target. Expanding access to water and sanitation services in these countries requires increased funding from national and international sources.
This calls for enhanced sector development and better upstream project preparation to develop financially and technically viable projects.
To address this challenge, the EIB has launched the ACP Water Project Preparation Facility (“the Facility”) with the financial support of the European Commission (EC) through the ACP-EU Water Facility.