Clean water for peace and development

Background

The northern rural region of Tigray in Ethiopia is home to around six million people who are acutely affected by poverty, hunger, recurring droughts, and the immediate effects of climate change. The war from 2020 to 2022 made the living conditions of the population even worse: the deliberate destruction of wells, pipes, and pumping systems severely disrupted the water supply in the region, leaving around 3.5 million people without access to clean drinking water at times.

Before the war, 61 percent of the population used functioning water sources – after the conflict, this proportion fell to only about 28 percent in some regions. In addition to the physical damage, many communities also lost the organizational and social structures for self-management of water supply, as local WASH committees were dissolved or stocks of spare parts were looted. The consequences are serious: contaminated water and poor hygiene promote pathogens such as cholera and typhoid, while girls and women in particular suffer from long and arduous journeys to fetch water, which severely impairs their education and income.

Restoring water supply and community-based management is therefore a key prerequisite for improving living conditions, for reconstruction and peace in the Tigray region, and for realizing the human right to access water and the international sustainability goals. The planned project addresses precisely these critical issues and brings together the forces of NGOs, local authorities, and civil society to jointly and sustainably secure the water supply for the population.

Project location

The project is being implemented in northern Ethiopia and covers 50 rural kebeles (communities) in 13 woredas (administrative districts) in the Tigray region that have been particularly affected by the conflict and lack of water infrastructure.

Project beneficiaries

The project directly targets around 132,000 people in the 13 most affected woredas of Tigray, who will benefit directly from secure access to clean drinking water through the restoration of the water supply.

As part of wider campaigns and training on hygiene, sanitation, and water use, a total of up to 200,000 people in the wider project region will be reached. The project also works closely with local authorities and administrations in the project areas. Their employees receive targeted training and capacity-building support in areas such as water management, technical maintenance, and hygiene education.

Project activities

To achieve these goals, the following project activities, among others, will be carried out:

• Restoration and technical repair of a total of 600 damaged or destroyed water points in rural communities in the project region.
• Establishment and training of 600 community-based WASH committees responsible for the management, maintenance, and sustainable use of water infrastructure.
• Establishment and equipping of spare parts warehouses in all participating woredas to ensure ongoing repair and maintenance work.
• Implementation of broad-based hygiene training and awareness campaigns on water, sanitation, and hygiene.
• Close cooperation with local authorities to strengthen their capacities in the area of water management and maintenance in order to ensure the long-term functionality of the infrastructure.

Local partner organization

The local partner organization for the implementation of this project is the Relief Society of Tigray (REST), an officially recognized non-governmental organization that has been active in Ethiopia since 1978 and is considered a leading and experienced player in the field of water, sanitation, and hygiene in the region. REST has a large team of experts and has already successfully implemented numerous projects, particularly in the reconstruction of water infrastructure after conflicts.