CARE and its principal partner, the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) in Somaliland, have just concluded implementation of a 30-month project titled Haraad Reeb, which was funded by BMZ – Germany Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development. The thrust of the project was to build the resilience of target communities against drought-related shocks. The project focused on rural semi-sedentary populations living in small village-towns and spread across the eastern regions – Togdheer, Sool and Sanaag. Some activities were also implemented in Sahil, Hargeisa and Awdal regions.
The project performance against set indicators was excellent; indictors were met or surpassed. Implementation effectiveness was evident in the wide coverage, beneficiary participation, gender considerations, coordination mechanism, and in monitoring and evaluation strategies. CARE-MoWR had a robust working relationship, outlined in a joint MoU and applied at all levels – national, regional, districts and village. CARE had sufficient, qualified and motivated project staff while MoWR attached an engineer to the project.
Backed by evidence, the project designers realized that insufficiency of investments is not the core problem facing the rural water supply subsector. The core problem was identified as poor strategies to support operation and maintenance of the established systems. Due to this problem, there has been little to show for millions of dollars that the INGOs and UN agencies have invested in the subsector over the last two decades (1995-2015).
At the policy level, the project addressed the institutional lacuna that has existed regarding community management of water systems. This was done by supporting the MoWR to develop the community water management manual. The evaluation found that the manual is a great step forward. However, it also found that the manual requires review, consensus, reediting and advocacy with a view to giving it a national appeal, acceptance and application. In particular, the proposed 3-person management unit is too restrictive and not adequate for inclusive and participatory regime.