A two-day meeting expected to review water and sanitation programmes in four countries of Eastern and Southern Africa Region opens today in Kigali.

Participants are drawn from Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and development partners such as Unicef and the Netherlands.

The projects, supported by the Government of the Netherlands and Unicef, have been ongoing for the last five years and will wind up in December 2014.

In Rwanda, the five year project for the acceleration of water supply, sanitation and hygiene towards reaching Water and Sanitation related Millennial Development Goals was launched in 2009 targeting four districts in the North-Western part of Rwanda.

The four districts are Burera, Musanze, Nyabihu and Rubavu. 

Over a four-year period, from 2009-2013, the project has been able to provide improved access to water and sanitation services to more than 500,000 people in the four districts.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Cyriaque Ngoboka, of Unicef Rwanda, said the meeting will feature analysis, reviews and evaluation of the programme roll out.

"A lot of things have happened in the rollout of the programme benefitting more than 500,000 people in the four districts in regards to improved water and sanitation,” Ngoboka said. 

The meeting will review the best practices and what more needs to be done, not only for the programme design, but for the design of future programmes as well.