Safeguarding water supply and farming conditions in the Simiyu Region of Tanzania.

Rainfall patterns in the Simiyu Region have become more unpredictable and increasingly erratic, temperatures are rising, and extreme events such as droughts and floods have become more frequent. As the impact of climate change grows, temperature and extreme weather events such as droughts, heavy rains and flooding are predicted to increase further in both frequency and severity in the future. 

Water supply is a major challenge in the Simiyu Region, where only about 20% of the urban and 40 % of the rural population have access to clean drinking water. Simiyu river is now a seasonal, rather than permanent river, and using water from Lake Victoria is the only feasible solution for safe and reliable drinking water, requiring a drought and flood-resilient water supply system. The region is heavily dependent upon agriculture (75% of the economy and 80% of employment). Farming conditions are threatened by the unreliability of the two rainy seasons, and a failure to adapt agricultural practices to the changing climate.

A holistic approach will be adopted to address these two main drivers for the population’s resilience: sustainable provision of water and farming conditions. The government’s community based adaptation planning will be strengthened, and the climate resilience of water supply infrastructure, sanitation services and agricultural practices will be improved. A community-driven approach will ensure the targeting of the most vulnerable in both the urban and rural population, whilst improving the implementing capacities of local and central government structures.

The project has an estimated lifespan of 5 years.