AWF 2026 Call for Proposals — Project Preparation Grants

The African Water Facility, an initiative of the African Ministers' Council on Water administered by the African Development Bank Group, has launched its 2026 Call for Proposals under the AWF 2026–2030 Strategy. It funds project preparation studies—feasibility work, detailed engineering design, environmental and social assessment, transaction advisory, and financial structuring—that move identified water and sanitation investments toward bankability. AWF does not finance construction; it finances the preparatory work that lets a project attract downstream public or private investment.

Malawi qualifies as an AfDB Regional Member Country, but the applicant must be an RMC, a public water/sanitation institution or implementing agency, or a basin organisation. UNIMA cannot apply as lead — it joins as a technical partner, and a national endorsement letter from the Ministry of Water and Sanitation is mandatory.

Move now on the partner, not the proposal — the endorsement letter and the co-financing evidence take longer than the writing. Where a Malawi project already sits in a ministry or water board pipeline with partial preparation done, that is the strongest candidate; UNIMA should offer the preparation gap it can close, e.g., UNIMA running the pilot evidence base and cost-recovery analysis.