Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alfred Maoh and New Zealand’s High Commission, Jonathan Schwass have signed an agreement that is aimed at improving water security in Vanuatu.
New Zealand will provide over VT450 million (NZ$6 million) to support the Water Sector Partnership of Vanuatu for the next three years.
The funding will build on the success of an earlier pilot project and will deliver water supply infrastructure and safe water to rural communities across the country.
This will make a major contribution to the Government of Vanuatu’s goal of delivering safely managed drinking water to all people in Vanuatu by 2030.
New Zealand and UNICEF have been directly supporting the Department of Water Resources (DoWR) since 2014 to address water security problems in Vanuatu.
Over the past two years Vanuatu has further lifted its ambition to develop a more systemic and sustainable approach to addressing water security.
This work has culminated in the design of the Water Sector Partnership - a four-year activity focused on assisting the DoWR to operationalise their ‘National Implementation Plan for Safe and Secure Drinking Water’.
Photo supplied. Caption: Vanuatu Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alfred Maoh exchanging documents with New Zealand High Commissioner, Jonathan Schwass