EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION TO THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO

Remarks by Head of Delegation

of the European Union to Lesotho,

H.E. Ambassador Hans DUYNHOUWER,

at the second Joint Annual Review of

Water Sector budget support

Maseru, 22 July 2013

Greetings to you all - Lumelang bo'm'e le bontate -

Mr/Madam, MC, allow me to start by paying my respects to:

His Majesty King Letsie III;

the Right Honourable the Prime Minister;

Honourable President of the Senate;

Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly;

His Lordship the President of the Court of Appeal;

His Lordship the Chief Justice;

Honourable Deputy Prime Minister;

Honourable Ministers;

Their Lordships Judges of the High Court;

Your Excellencies Heads of Diplomatic Mission and International organisations;

Principal Secretaries here present;

The Acting Commissioner of Water and all officials representing the water

sector;

All officials and dignitaries here present;

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen;

2nd

Joint Annual Review Water Sector Budget Support Programme

- 2 -

It is my great honour to welcome everyone to the 2nd joint annual review of

the sector budget support funded by the European Union.

I would like to welcome in particular our Government partners, other

development partners, Members of Parliament and non-governmental

organisations as well as the representatives of the press at this opening

ceremony.

The European Union has been a long term partner of Lesotho in the water

sector. We have worked on infrastructure programmes such as the current

Maseru Waste Water project and the completed the 3 Towns Water and

Sanitation supply programme. We also did preparatory work for the Lowlands

scheme including Metolong; with a loan of over LSL 1.5 billion (EUR 140

million) the European Investment Bank is the largest financial contributor to

this important project.

Since 2011 we are working together on a well established sector budget

support programme. This programme supports the Government of Lesotho to

implement a water sector policy to improve access to water and sanitation

services, most particularly to the poor. Furthermore, our joint programme

aims to strengthen institutional reform and capacity development in the sector

within, bodies such as the Office of the Commissioner of Water, the

department of Rural Water Supply, the Department of Water Affairs.

2nd

Joint Annual Review Water Sector Budget Support Programme

- 3 -

At today's meeting the Government will report on the performance indicators

that we agreed for this programme. Performance conditions the release of

funds and we will discuss this today. At tomorrow's meeting the draft long

term strategy will be presented. It is our hope that at the end of these

meetings we will have a clearer picture on how we can move forward..

There has been a long gap between the 1st

and 2nd

review of this budget

support programme. The last review was held in December 2011. At that

review, Government proposed that the targets of the programme be adjusted

to reflect better the way data on access to water and sanitation be collected.

This has been done in conjunction with an extension of the programme until

2015/16 and an increase of funds by EUR 6.8 million. I hope that we can work

on a firm footing now and that progress will accelerate.

You will recall that following the 2011 December review, it was concluded that

the sector performance did not allow us to pay the variable tranche of EUR 6

mln (LSL 70 mln). The good news is that that these funds are not lost, but have

been re-absorbed into the extended programme. It should, however, be

stressed that the EU's support will progressively focus more on the specific

water related targets of access to clean water and sanitation.

Collecting reliable data on access to water and sanitation is key. We have not

abandoned the collection of data from the Continuous Multi-purpose

Household Survey (CMS). The Bureau of Statistics will now have enough time

to refine this method of data collection until it can become a reliable source of

data on the water sector. It will complement the data collected by WASCO and

2nd

Joint Annual Review Water Sector Budget Support Programme

- 4 -

the Department of Rural water supply. In this regard, I would like to commend

the good relationship between the Commission of Water and the Bureau of

Statistics; this is an example of good practice that is not always evident in

other countries in the region.

Co-ordination in the water sector has improved over time. It is a must. The

water sector is a sector with many players including government bodies and

donor partners both resident and non resident. We must develop this further.

I commend the regular water sector co-ordination meetings as they represent

an effective platform for dialogue in the water stakeholder community. I do

know that The Government would like more donors to attend these meetings

and I take the opportunity to appeal to fellow donors to give the sector co-

ordination meetings the support it deserves. We, the donors, cannot complain

that sector co-ordination is poor and then fail to support Government when it

takes steps to address this issue.

I believe that the Joint Annual Review should become a highlight in the water

sector calendar of Lesotho. It is the official forum for real exchange and policy

dialogue. Enhanced sector dialogue is a key pillar of the sector budget support

programme. Government and the donors can together come to a better

understanding both of the processes of sector budget support and the issues

at stake. It is a learning process for all of us and I look forward to seeing

increasing progress year by year. Combining it with the presentation of the

long term strategy is a good initiative and helps all stakeholders to see

ourselves as one sector regardless of the source of donor input.

2nd

Joint Annual Review Water Sector Budget Support Programme

- 5 -

I would like to welcome the input of non-budget support donors whose

support also assists the Government to reach the targets under the sector

budget support programme. We do hope that we can find better ways to co-

ordinate donor inputs to avoid any mismatch between our inputs. As we did

last year, I also invite other donors to seriously consider the idea of

contributing directly to the sector programme.

Since the last review the EU has financed several activities linked to monitoring

and evaluation to support the sector budget support programme. We now

have a clear picture of the needs. We are moving towards concrete actions

such as working on strengthening of the GIS capacity in the water sector

institutions. The EU expert, Dr Berthold is with us at today's meeting. I also

take this opportunity to say that another EU funded expert, Mr Alexander

Mueller is also present. He has been conducting a review of our work under

EDF 9 in the water sector including the 3 Towns project. He has worked here

before and many of you may know him already. He will present his findings to

you at tomorrow's meeting.

As a final point I would like to look to the future and the EDF 11. As many of

you will know, the EU will focus on water, energy and governance in its co-

operation programme for the period 2014 to 2020. In these sectors we will

also integrate linked issues such as climate change and food security. A first

draft of the national indicative programme setting out the proposed approach

has already been prepared and I will call on the input from all stakeholders

before finalising this key document. I acknowledge the input of the

Commissioner of Water thus far to this process. I must stress that this wider

2nd

Joint Annual Review Water Sector Budget Support Programme

- 6 -

approach to the water sector will entail a strong commitment from

Government to bring the relevant ministries to work together on these issues;

Agriculture and Food Security, Forestry and Land Reclamation, Environment

and Tourism to name a few of the key ministries.

But first and foremost, I call on the Government to make access to water for all

the country's number ONE priority. As a water exporting nation with abundant

resources, access to water for all is within reach in the not too distant future.

Let's mobilise our human, financial, technical and natural resources in support

of this objective.

Thank you for your attention.

KHOTSO, PULA, NALA