With the core objective of expanding access to safe, sustainable, and affordable water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities, Metsi a Lesotho aims to cultivate a healthier, greener, and more prosperous society while effectively managing water and land resources. Through robust capacity-building efforts and WASH infrastructure development, Metsi a Lesotho seeks to improve services and foster cooperation at community, catchment, and transboundary levels.

Launched in 2024, Metsi a Lesotho is part of the Global Gateway, Europe’s strategy to boost smart, clean and secure connections in digital, climate, energy and transport sectors, and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world.

Why Metsi a Lesotho?

• Access to safe and affordable water and sanitation for all is a basic human right, crucial for sustainable development. Lesotho and the broader region face water scarcity and unequal access due to rising demand and climate change.
• Sustainable water resources management can help Lesotho reverse ongoing land degradation, ensure water continues to be available and clean, promoting water security, regional stability and peace.
• Climate change increases water scarcity, especially in vulnerable regions like Lesotho. Faced with more frequent extreme weather events, safeguarding healthy catchment and wetland ecosystems becomes ever more important.
• Health, food, energy, livelihoods, jobs and skills depend on Lesotho’s water resources. Preserving the environment and socio-economic prosperity are not contradictory objectives, but one and the same.
• Nurturing partnerships and research strengthens water management efforts in Lesotho. Cooperation among governments, communities, the private sector, civil society, academia, and research institutes is vital for water sustainability.

How Metsi a Lesotho?

Metsi a Lesotho utilises various tools including:

Background

Water is our planet’s most precious resource, essential for sustaining life and fostering healthy ecosystems. Our own health, food systems, infrastructure, and livelihoods depend on it. The climate crisis exerts a profound and distressing impact on the availability, accessibility and equitable allocation of water resources across the globe. We all need to come together to manage water resources sustainably for present and future generations.

The Government of Lesotho and its relevant Ministries are collaborating with Team Europe, namely the European Union Delegation to Lesotho, the European Investment Bank (EIB),  the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on this initiative. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is also a crucial partner in the broader mission to extend access to water and sanitation services.

Metsi a Lesotho is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation for all) as well as the Government of Lesotho’s National Strategic Development Plan II (NSDP II).

The European Union continues to play a pivotal role in Lesotho's water sector, providing a significant investment, though Metsi a Lesotho, of EUR 27 million (LSL 540 million) to improve access to clean and accessible water, open to additional contributions from other partners.

Download the PDF version

Download the Action Document for Metsi a Lesotho