Through its objectives, the network has given itself the mandate to challenge unequal water distribution; demand the institutionalization of the right to water in the constitutions of African countries; defend common ownership of water; and interrogate the dominant narratives of privatization while proposing people centered intersectional solutions to inherent systemic problems. Of course, it is unrealistic to quantify the achievements of such huge aspirations within such a short period, but the ongoing visible work of the AWJN within the continent is worth appreciating. Under the firm coordination of Ghanaian water justice organizer, Leonard Shang-Quartey, the AWJN has embarked on various campaigns on three fronts: building the network at the continental level, directing linkages with existing international water justice forums, and facilitating the work of grassroots organizers in frontline communities. While the first and second flies the network’s agenda regionally and internationally, the latter grounds AWJN’s work at the national and local level within the continent.
In international engagements, the AWJN has strategically used the UN 2023 Water Conference to demand support for priority water justice issues in Africa, through a multi-country signature and petition campaign. Apart from lobbying international organs, the AWJN also marks key international dates relevant to its agenda to advance the water justice cause. For example, on 28th July 2023, through a press release and gatherings in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, the network marked the 13th anniversary of the UN resolution on the human right to water by condemning the continued trend of water privatization. In the same manner, World Environment Day was observed with a call against drinking water sachets, and the demand that African governments make quality drinking water available for all.
While there are now AWJN members from Zimbabwe to Cameroon and Senegal, on the ground, the network is directly involved in communities in four countries providing support for movement building through the Voices of Water Justice campaign. Collaborating with the Ecumenical Water Network in Nigeria, the AWJN works with Ekiti community members in their struggles against water privatization. In Ghana, the AWJN supports the Water Citizens Network (WCN) to address the financial mismanagement of the Tshei desalination Plant Public-Private Partnership, which burdens the people. Committed to addressing the unequal distribution of water, the AWJN has joined the African Water Common Collective (AWCC) in South Africa to call out government-imposed water restrictions on poor households. And by the same token, the AWJN is raising domestic worker’s voices in support of Mathare Social Justice Center’s (MSJC) efforts to address the plight of those who bear the heavy burden of water shortages in Nairobi, Kenya. In all these countries, the AWJN has either built on ongoing struggles or helped to kick-start new initiatives.
In Ghana for instance, the AWJN is building on the longtime WCN struggles, which Leonard Shang-Quartey notes have succeeded in halting some water privatization contracts.15 In Kenya the network has not only supported MSJC but also enabled the establishment of the Nairobi Water Justice Working Group (NWJWG). Working with MSJC on domestic worker struggles built on the center’s preexisting engagements with water justice struggles in Nairobi. According to Gacheke Gachihi, coordinator of the MSJC, the centre has been involved in Maji ni Uhai Maji ni Haki (Water is Life, Water is Right) campaign since 2018.16 Not only did the campaign manage to hold successful water literacy gatherings in Mathare and related neighborhoods, but also exposed the reality of water scarcity and its resultant effects in said communities. Gachihi also highlighted the fact that the centre’s current work with the AWJN to raise domestic workers’ voices has strengthened their efforts to reach out to the most vulnerable groups within informal settlements. The connections to the AWJN grew when AWCC and BPP organizers, Faeza Meyer and Koni Benson and I were in Nairobi presenting on water organizing and other issues relevant to building Pan-Africanist Feminist movement histories at the Cabral Ecofeminist Political School, organized by the African Ecofeminist Collective in honour of the anniversary of the assassination of Amilcar Cabral in January 2023. Organizers from across Nairobi working on issues of land, queer rights, women’s rights, police brutality, and others, found that water was a common issue. To attendees, it was apparent that the same state that was considering new water privatization bills was also considering homophobic legislation and enabling new levels of political repression. Many of the participants then joined the AWJN and have been specifically mobilizing in connection to water scarcity as central to the increasing structural and bodily violence impacting all struggles against violence in Kenya.
The AWJN also enabled social movements and activists in Nairobi to create the NWJWG, which has been instrumental in water policy engagements. The working group has been organizing community conversations to deepen understandings of water issues in Nairobi and collectively plan on how to advance water justice struggles. Ruth Mumbi who is coordinating the working group has this to say:
The working group was formed following a series of online direct engagements with the Africa Water Justice Network, which provided a unique opportunity and perspective for local organizations to understand wider water justice issues from the global angle and how interrelated they are with the local experiences.17
Currently the working group is on the front line of struggles against the proposed Nairobi County water privatization bill, where as recently as 9th October 2023 it marched in protest to present a petition against the bill to the Assembly as part of their policy engagement strategies. Mumbi observes that all the activities were directly or indirectly made possible by resources from AWJN, which extended financial support to the working group and promoted its activities in other platforms resulting in connections with other partners. From the NWJWG’s experience, the AWJN inspires the creation of new initiatives but most importantly, it nurtures and strengthens their water justice struggles in various ways including influencing policies at the country level.
Far from the offline engagement which gave rise to the NWJWG, the network is also utilizing online platforms as a new site of struggle. A series of webinars dubbed #WaterSavesLives have been building people’s consciousness on various water justice issues and countering dominant mainstream capitalist narratives. Worth considering is the fact that the webinars are not the only tools feeding into the important role of equipping the masses with the right information. As rightly explained by Benson and Karunananthan, the research done in solidarity with the Oakland Institute, among other comrade organizations, towards the birth of the AWJN laid a solid foundation for the network’s determination to make use of the battle of ideas as an integral part of its strategy to defend the commons.18