By Shire Abdi - Reporter
Adiss Ababa (Dawan Africa) 24 Jul. 26 – The African Development Fund has approved a $9.3 million grant to finance projects aimed at strengthening climate resilience, improving water security and sanitation, and increasing food production among vulnerable communities in Ethiopia and South Sudan.
The Fund’s Board of Directors approved the grant on 15 July. The financing will support the Climate Proof Water4Food Project, an initiative that integrates water services with agricultural development.
The project will focus particularly on Ethiopia’s Gambella Region and South Sudan’s Unity State, which regularly experience flooding and other extreme weather conditions that contribute to food shortages, loss of livelihoods and the displacement of communities.
The project includes the construction and rehabilitation of seven solar-powered water supply systems. These systems are expected to provide nearly 80,000 people with access to clean water.
Integrated flood-management measures will also be introduced to reduce losses caused by climate-related disasters affecting farms, homes and water sources.
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More than 100,000 farmers will receive training in climate-smart agricultural practices to help them increase food production and reduce the impact of increasingly unpredictable weather conditions.
Approximately 19,300 young people will also be trained in agricultural skills, entrepreneurship and the development of climate-resilient value chains.
Communities supported by the project will benefit from sanitation facilities constructed in schools and public institutions, improved hygiene services and women-led local committees responsible for managing water services.
The project will also restore degraded land through large-scale tree planting, watershed rehabilitation and the strengthening of local ecosystems.