WASIS is a 5-year US$30 million project funded by the Africa Catalytic Growth Fund (ACGF) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is designed as a repeater project for the National Water Development Project II (NWDP II) and will continue long term support provided to the water sector in Mozambique. WASIS facilitates access and improved water services to 137,000 households in the northern provinces of Beira, Nampula, Quelimane, and Pemba, four of the cities whose water supplies improved under NWDP II. The project was declared effective on March 17, 2008.

Mozambique qualifies under the ACGF as a high performing country based on its satisfactory country record and its proven results on the ground. The project is eligible for ACGF funds, as it tackles a hard to reach MDG, crowds in other donors, is able to scale up results and contribute to accelerated economic growth.

Mozambique has demonstrated a credible strategy to achieve progress in meeting the MDGs in the water supply sector for the largest cities through its policy of delegated management coupled with a robust regulatory framework. In scaling up this model in urban areas, Mozambique has so far attracted various other funding partners, including the AfDB, the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency, and the Government of the Netherlands.

The project will continue to consolidate gains in urban areas and scale up the DMF to smaller market towns and cities, as well as catalyze funding from the United States’ Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The MCC is strongly committed to partnering with the IDA to integrate and build on IDA’s extensive knowledge and experience in building institutional capacity, particularly with the successful DMF. Grant funding from MCC in the order of US$200 million for infrastructure investments in the water and sanitation sector was formally committed by the MCC through a Compact Signing Ceremony on July 13, 2007.