39th AU Summit Reflections: Why the Success of Africa's Water Vision 2063 and Policy depend on confronting the Global Financial System

The halls of the African Union in Addis Ababa last month, February 2026, buzzed with the usual air of optimism, this time around securing the continent’s water future. The 39^th Africa Union Summit centered on the theme of “Ensuring the sustainable availability of safe water and sanitation systems to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063” and concluded with among other things, the ambitious launch of The Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy, a common position of a shared continental direction to  secure water availability for the continent’s economic transformation, climate resilience, regional integration and long-term prosperity.  At the heart of the Summit’s discussions and launch of the policy, H.E. Hakainde Hichilema underscored the need to close the annual water investment gap of $30 billion needed to finance its water investment needs. 

Yet, the Vision’s proposition to finance the continent’s water infrastructure proposes a thorough blend of public capital, private investment and concessional finance posing a critical, AFRODAD-informed interrogation. Can Africa truly “invest” its way out a crisis using the very financial tools that currently keep us in a cycle of dependency? 

African governments are currently contending with a burgeoning public external debt estimated at $2 trillion, accounting for roughly 63% of continental GDP, with 22 African countries are already in or at high risk of debt distress. When African governments are spending averagely 17% of their national budgets on debt servicing often at the expense of health, education, and water infrastructure, the Africa Water Vision 2063 risks becoming a mirage. This year alone, total external debt payments in the continent are expected to hit $90 billion in 2026. The launch of this policy and the Summit overall, reflected a confrontation of not only Africa’s water sovereignty but also its developmental aspirations and a global financial architecture that AFRODAD has long argued it perpetuates Africa’s indebtedness by design. 

First, the reflections offered by Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the ECA during the summit provided a sobering fact for African governments and a glaring gap in the existing global financial architecture; that capital is becoming more expensive. African countries are currently borrowing at an average of yield of  9.1% on dollar-denominated sovereign bonds. Compare this to Latin America (6.5%) or emerging Asia (4.7%), and the injustice becomes clear. This disparity is not always a reflection of economic performance, but a symptom of a global credit rating system that unfairly overestimates African risk. As Mr. Claver correctly put it, “when finance is expensive, infrastructure is delayed”.  

Secondly and perhaps the most critical link between the Water Vison 2063 and Policy is the climate-debt nexus. While the policy proposes a range of financing options including concessional finance and climate finance. The form in which these financing mechanisms are currently offered to the continent are increasingly debt-generating. For example, in 2022, out of $8.33 billion disbursed to Africa for climate action in the form of concessional financing, 64.8% of the amount came in the form of debt amounting to $5.4billion while grants for climate action in the same year was only $2.9billion, compounding an injustice, of continuing to pay a climate crisis Africa did not cause. 

The Path Forward: AFRODAD Recommendations for A Water-Secure Africa 

Reflecting on the 39th AU Summit, Africa’s water challenge is inseparable from its debt challenge. The success of the Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy will depend not only on technical planning and political will, but on whether global financial systems reforms support, rather than constrain, transformative investment. AFRODAD urges, propose and supports the following: 

We urge for the  Establishment of UN Framework Convention on Sovereign  a legally binding, multilateral mechanism under the auspices of the United Nations, that will ensure a global financial architecture is transparent, fair, and prioritizes human rights—including the right to water over the profits of creditors. The Africa Union is already leading the way in demanding this under the Lome Declaration on Debt which articulates a Common African Position (CAP) on Debt, proposing that such a framework must deliver responsible borrowing and lending, enhanced access to affordable financing and comprehensive debt relief mechanisms for African countries.   

Climate Justice: Grants, not loans for all water and climate adaptation projects 

As the continent that contributes the least to global emissions but bears disproportionate climate impacts, we propose that African governments adopt a coordinated strategy to demand and secure grant-based financing for water infrastructure and climate adaptation to ensure that implementation of the Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy does not further deepen their debt vulnerabilities. 

The emergence of "debt pause" clauses with the option of suspending repayment in the face of particularly damaging climatic crises, announced during the 2nd Italia-Africa Summit at the sidelines of the AU Summit, represents a practical and immediate step in the right direction. Debt pause clauses would allow countries to temporarily suspend debt servicing in the event of climate shocks or natural disasters—precisely the kinds of disruptions that threaten water security and climate resilience objectives under Agenda 2063. For African states facing rising climate vulnerability and high borrowing costs, such mechanisms would create fiscal breathing space to redirect resources toward critical water infrastructure, sanitation systems, and climate adaptation measures without triggering default or protracted restructuring processes. 

By Catherine Mithia, Policy Research & Advocacy Officer, Sovereign Debt Management.