The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund approved a $13.95 million grant to the Government of Ethiopia to implement the first phase of a project to improve livelihoods for pastoralist communities in the Ethiopian drylands.
Borana’s Resilient Water Development Program to Enhance Livelihoods will improve access to integrated and sustainable, climate-resilient and gender-sensitive water and sanitation services. The first phase of the program will focus on developing a wellfield infrastructure and a transmission pipeline to a storage tank.
The Global Center for Adaptation (GCA) will contribute €300,000 to the program to strengthen adaptation and resilience, under the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme, a partnership with the African Development Bank.
GCA will provide technical assistance for the development of a deep understanding of climate-related risks to improve the climate resilience of watersheds. It will also design a strategy and approach to engage local communities, and carry out a gender climate resilience and vulnerability assessment as an integral part of climate adaptation.
The plan will strengthen access to water supply in Elweya, Dubluk and Yabel districts, covering 62 rural villages and 12 towns with an estimated population of 308,576 people, half of them women, and 975,750 cattle.
Osward Chanda, Director of Water and Sanitation Development at the African Development Bank, said: “The Bank’s support is a coordinated response with the Government of Ethiopia to mitigate water, sanitation and climate-related challenges, develop sustainable water resources and improve socioeconomic outcomes in Borana. .”
The first phase of the program will be implemented over four years. The Borana Livelihood Resilient Development Program will lead to better health, nutrition and food security outcomes.
In the last 15 years, Ethiopia has suffered eight major droughts with adverse consequences for its economy and the livelihoods of its people, leading to forced migration and displacement of people and livestock. Droughts in the Borana area have been linked to increased violent conflict and border disputes, unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation, which remain critical health problems in the Ethiopian lowlands.
The Borana program is aligned with the Bank’s Strategy to Address Fragility and Build Resilience in Africa, as well as its Gender Strategy, the Youth Jobs Strategy in Africa, the Multisectoral Nutrition Action Plan and the Climate Change Policy of the Bank that seeks to invest in programs that promote climate resilience and adaptation.
