Tens of thousands of farmers and low-income households in southern Ethiopia will benefit from a program financed by a grant from the African Development Fund.
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, March 1, 2024 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/-The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund approved, on February 28, 2024 in Abidjan, a donation of $46.02 million to Ethiopia for the implementation of phase 2 of the Resilient Water Development Program for improving livelihoods in Borana, in the south of the country.
Financial support from the African Development Bank Group’s concessional loan window aims to improve access to water supply services for dryland pastoral communities in the Borana zone of the Oromia region. integrated, sustainable, climate-smart and gender-responsive water and sanitation.
Borana’s population, estimated at 1.2 million people, half of whom are women, is growing rapidly and is expected to reach 1.8 million by 2030. The inhabitants depend, for the most part, on pastoralism for their livelihood, and are therefore subject to variations in precipitation levels and recurrent droughts which lead to water insecurity. As of March 2023, more than 3.3 million livestock have died due to water shortages in the region, depriving more than 67,000 households of their livelihoods. The effects of climate on pastures and water availability also tend to exacerbate tensions over land and water resources.
“This is a peacebuilding program in an environment where the extreme phenomena of climate change are increasingly manifesting themselves, where millions of head of livestock are lost and where conflicts are increasing between livestock breeders in due to limited grazing and water supply,” said Beth Dunford, African Development Bank Group Vice President for Agriculture and Human and Social Development.
The grant from the African Development Fund will mainly be used to build and optimize water production and transportation systems over more than 85 kilometers. It will also be used to build nine reservoirs, distribution networks (142.6 km) and connections to provide access to drinking water to 36,000 new users. In addition, 99 water troughs will be installed for nearly 109,000 head of livestock. The program will also help finance real estate acquisitions and associated works and services (including construction supervision) aimed at reducing climate risks associated with the provision of multi-purpose drinking water and sanitation services. It will also strengthen WASH management systems at the community level to support the operation and maintenance of the facilities put in place.
“This program addresses the critical challenge of increasing water demand in the Borana region and aims to mitigate the effects of drought, supporting solutions such as the development of key water infrastructure, institutional capacity building and improving service delivery for sustainable and climate-resilient water supply,” said Osward Chanda, Director of Water and Sanitation Development at the African Development Bank Group.
In addition to upgrading sanitation facilities in schools and health centers, the program will finance the construction of public sanitation facilities and organize hygiene awareness campaigns. It will also provide capacity building and technical assistance in regulating water services at regional and woreda (district) levels. To finance the maintenance of rural supply systems, the program will support a public rural water distribution service which, in consultation with users, will develop applicable tariffs for the operation and maintenance of new facilities.
Finally, the program plans to strengthen climate-resilient watershed management frameworks and implement practical adaptation measures for resilient and sustainable ecosystems, landscapes and livelihoods, as well as management systems. smarter water.
Rural and peri-urban communities in the Borana region, which are mainly made up of pastoralists and low-income households, especially women and youth, are the beneficiaries of the program. An estimated 35,816 people, half of whom are women, will benefit from access to water services. Some 21,000 people, at least half of whom are also women, will benefit from better access to basic sanitation services.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) for the African Development Bank.
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Source : African Media Agency (AMA)