The World Summit on Sustainable Development has formally endorsed the "partnership" model as an important means for action. Organizations around the world are stepping forward to strengthen existing alliances and foster new collaborations to advance progress on achieving Agenda 21 and Millennium Declaration Goals.

As part of this global movement toward partnership, the West Africa Water Initiative (WAWI) was born. Inspired by the vision of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Initiative grew from years of experience with the international NGO World Vision and other partners in Ghana to provide rural water supply and sanitation as the entry point for community development.

In 2002, the Hilton Foundation made a bold commitment to expand its long-standing efforts in Ghana, Mali, and Niger and to add a peri-urban as well as rural focus to its work. While the core emphasis of the Hilton Foundation remains the link between water and human health—in particular diseases such as trachoma, guinea worm, and diarrhea—the need for attention to a broader water management context was recognized and embraced.

Several other leading organizations in international water management were invited to engage with national and local governments, citizen groups, and communities in West Africa, and jointly address critical human health needs, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development through better management of water resources.

From January 2003 to May 2007, the WAWI Secretariat was based in Ghana and led by Bismark Nerquaye-Tetteh as the WAWI Coordinator. With the change in leadership on the retirement of Bismark, the WAWI Secretariat was relocated to Niger in July 2007 and is headed by Jean-Baptiste KAMATE.