The present progress report provides an update on the status of the Program, and captures the experience in running the Program since the restructuring of the Africa Region of the World Bank in mid-1996, when the administrative home of the Program, the Environmentally Sustainable Development Division, was dissolved and the staff working on the SSATP was distributed over three new groupings, Transport Groups 1 and 2, and Water, Urban and Sanitation Group 2.

The year 1997 was a year of very high activity for the SSATP, in terms of completion of research activities, dissemination of results and interfacing the achievements of the program with the operational activities of donors, notably the World Bank; each of the five components of the program arranged one major conference in Africa. Perhaps most significant of all, country-centered work is increasingly becoming the framework for the operation of the program, and whereas regional exchanges of experiences and best practices will continue to play an important role, it is the formulation of policy reform at the country level which will be the main thrust of the SSATP in the coming years.