Combating Poverty in the Water and Sanitation Sector

KATANGA, a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo-a Central African country ranked among the world's poorest nations-adopted a poverty reduction strategy (SRP), a national framework for socioeconomic development, with the goal of reducing the overall incidence of poverty from 63% to less than 50% by 2015. The SRP serves as the sole framework for rural development. In this context, the fight against poverty in KATANGA necessarily involves the management and mobilization of water resources. The water and sanitation policy adopted by the Association in May 2001 is based primarily on the fundamental objectives assigned to the rural development strategy, which itself is an integral part of the poverty reduction strategy.