Building Climate Change Resilience of Vulnerable Households in Selected Localities of Ethiopia

Drought, erratic rainfall, floods and rising heat threaten rain-fed farming and livestock in Ethiopia. In the project's districts, growing seasons are shorter, watersheds are degraded and drinking water is unreliable. Women and children are disproportionately affected because of their roles in water collection, agricultural labour and household food security.

The project will help 15 vulnerable kebeles (local wards) across seven woredas (districts) manage drought and water scarcity. It will replace diesel pumping with solar-powered systems, including 21 drinking water systems and 150 irrigation pump systems, and restore degraded watersheds. It will support farmers to adopt climate-smart agriculture, and local plans will draw on climate information. Women, youth and other vulnerable groups will receive training and enterprise support to diversify their incomes, backed by a revolving grant approach for selected activities.

The project scales an Adaptation Fund model that combined water access, watershed restoration and livelihoods in these districts, extending it to neighbouring kebeles with unmet demand and demonstrating complementarity between climate funds. Ethiopia's Ministry of Finance leads the project as a direct access entity, with co-financing from the Government, mostly in kind. It also adds support for operations and maintenance, women's livelihoods and local coordination, and irrigation schemes will pass to local water user associations to run.