Country background
- Benin remains among the world’s poorest countries.
- The country has one of the highest death rates for children under the age of five. However, huge efforts have been made in health care and in rural water supply.
Policies and strategies
- In 1995, the Government of Benin adopted the National Sanitation Policy (Politique Nationale d’Assainissement - PNA) which defines institutional responsibilities and suggests a range of technical options for providing adequate sanitation. Recognizing Benin’s decentralization process, under which water supply and sanitation has become responsibility of the municipalities, the policy is currently being revised.
- The National Vision on Water by 2025 (Vision Nationale de l’Eau en l’An 2025) from 1999 outlines various technical, socio-economic, institutional and cultural challenges that have to be solved to maintain and manage water resources for the long term.
- Benin's water sector is divided into rural and urban sub-sectors, while the sanitation sector has different arrangements. In both rural and urban areas, new national drinking water strategies have been adopted in 2005 and 2006 with the objective to reach the MDG drinking water target by 2015.
- The new National Strategy for Drinking Water in Rural Areas of Benin (Stratégie Nationale de l’Approvisionnement en Eau Potable en Milieu Rural du Bénin) for the period 2005-2015 is based on a demand-responsive approach like its former strategy of 1992. An accompanying Action Plan has been developed.
- Besides reaching the MDG drinking water target, the 2006 to 2015 National Strategy for Drinking Water in Urban Areas (Stratégie Nationale de l’Approvisionnement en Eau Potable en Milieu Urbain) has the objectives to facilitate the financial viability of public water supply and provide access for poorer households.
- For rural and semi-urban areas, a Water Budget Programme (Budget Programme par Objectif - BPO) seeks to balance investment amongst different districts throughout the country and to track expenditure.
- In the last few years, Benin has embarked on an ambitious policy reform programme (Gestion Intégrée des Ressources en Eau - GIRE) that includes updating its Water Charter, creating a coordination unit for the sector, as well as a National Water Council, drafting a National Policy for Water, establishing inter-communal agencies throughout the country.
Institutions
- The Ministry of Energy and Water (MEE) sets general water sector policies and supervises their application.
- In rural and semi-urban areas, the Water General Authority (Direction Générale de l’Eau - DGEau) under the MEE implements the national policies, coordinates water use for different purposes and promotes integrated water resources management. DGEau also supports municipalities and their established Water User Associations, which are responsible for operation and maintenance of water supply and sanitation.
- The National Water Society of Benin (Société Nationale des Eaux du Benin - SONEB), an autonomous public company, is solely responsible for water supply in urban areas. Like the DGEau, the SONEB is placed under the Ministry of Energy and Water.
- Sanitation (including solid and liquid waste management) in both urban and rural areas is handled by the Hygiene and Basic Sanitation Authority (Direction de l'Hygiène et de l'Assainissement de Base - DHAB), a department within the Ministry of Health (MS). DHAB shares responsibility for sanitation with the SONEB, communities and departments in different ministries, such as the the Ministry of Environment and Conservation of Nature (MEPN).
