The Resilient Water Development Programme for Livelihood Improvement in Borana, a town in southern Ethiopia, is gradually coming to an end. On 28 February 2024, the Ethiopian government was awarded a $46.02 million grant to implement phase II of the programme, which was launched in 2022. The funds were allocated by the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional lending arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group.
According to the ADF, this funding will enable the construction and optimisation of water production and transport systems over more than 85 km in Borana, one of the 21 zones in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. In addition, nine reservoirs will be built, as well as a 142.6 km water distribution network. In addition, 99 water troughs will be installed for almost 109,000 head of cattle, and 36,000 new users will be connected to the water network.
Construction of sanitation facilities
“This programme responds to the critical challenge of increasing water demand in Borana, and aims to mitigate the effects of drought by supporting solutions such as the development of key water infrastructure, institutional capacity building and improved service delivery for a sustainable and climate resilient water supply,” says Osward Chanda, the AfDB’s Water and Sanitation Development Director.
The aim is also to boost the productivity of agropastoral communities (rural and peri-urban), which are mainly made up of pastoralists and low-income households, particularly in arid areas.This will also involve strengthening catchment management frameworks that are resilient to climate change, and implementing practical adaptation measures for resilient and sustainable ecosystems, landscapes and livelihoods, as well as smarter water management systems.
In the area of sanitation, the ADF grant will be used to finance the construction of public sanitation facilities, hygiene awareness campaigns and capacity building, and to provide technical assistance for the regulation of water services at regional and woreda (district) level. The new funding will also be used to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) management systems at community level, in order to support the operation and maintenance of the facilities put in place.
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This is additional financing from the financial institution, released around two years after the initial financing of $13.9 million in 2022 for the Borana water and sanitation programme, which is scheduled for completion in 2026.
Inès Magoum