African Water Facility

The African Water Facility (AWF) is an initiative led by the African Ministers’ Council on Water(AMCOW) to mobilise resources to finance water resources development activities in Africa. It is hosted and managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The AWF provides financial and technical assistance for the preparation of high quality pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, investment plans, and structured public, private and public-private partnership operations.

The AWF helps ensure that investment projects meet the essential criteria typically required by development banks, government development agencies or other investors. The AWF will also help grantees to arrange round table investment talks when bids reach the required standard.

The preparation of bankable projects constitutes the bulk of the AWF portfolio. Grant requests to support projects of this type are usually given priority. Project preparation – financed by the AWF generally leads to highly successful investment mobilisation efforts: on average, each €1 contributed by the AWF has attracted €34 in additional follow-up investments.

Occasionally, the AWF will support small strategic, innovative and catalytic investment projects, often community-driven or located in fragile states, to pilot promising ideas with scalable intention.