Minister Urges Stronger Monitoring of Global WASH Financing

Dr. Sao-Kpato Hannah Isatta Macarthy, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, has issued a strong call for enhanced monitoring of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) financing and structural conditions to accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6).

Speaking at World Water Week 2026, held in Stockholm from August 23 to 27, Dr. Macarthy represented Sierra Leone in a high-level panel session titled "Catalysing Action: Strengthening Monitoring of SDG 6 Means of Implementation."

The session convened governments, development partners, UN agencies, and water sector practitioners to analyze how nations can optimize monitoring of resources and systems essential for sustainable water and sanitation service delivery.

Dr. Macarthy emphasized that tracking physical service coverage alone is insufficient. To drive lasting improvements, she argued, countries must evaluate the underlying financial, governance, and institutional mechanisms that enable and sustain progress.

"If we want to accelerate progress on SDG 6, we must not only measure results but must also measure the means that make those results possible," the Minister stated.

To illustrate this approach, Dr. Macarthy highlighted Sierra Leone's implementation of WASH accounts as a vital tool for tracking resource mobilization, allocation, and expenditure. The nation is currently preparing its second round of WASH accounts to refine data quality and systematically integrate findings into national budgeting, planning, and policy frameworks.

The Minister also detailed national efforts to bolster SDG 6 monitoring, referencing a recent inception workshop that brought together key national stakeholders. The workshop succeeded in clarifying institutional responsibilities and establishing a strategic roadmap aimed at fostering multi-sectoral collaboration, digital innovation, data utilization, and institutional capacity building.

Dr. Macarthy’s participation underscores Sierra Leone's commitment to aligning reliable, empirical WASH data with national planning and long-term investment decisions, shifting the focus from mere access numbers to sustainable, well-financed, and well-governed water services.

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