Emergency WASH Interventions in Drought affected Woredas of Oromia and SNNPR Back-to-back seasons of poor or non-existent rainfall in 2015, exacerbated by the strongest El Niño phenomenon on record in the same year, led to the worst drought in decades in Ethiopia in 2016. While the country continues to respond to residual needs from the past drought, below average rains in the southern and eastern parts of the country caused by the negative Indian Ocean Dipole have left 5.6 million people, largely pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, in need of humanitarian assistance in 20171. (Ethiopia weekly humanitarian bulletin, 13 March 2017, UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affair)

The limited Kiremt and Belg rains reduced the recharge and storage of rain-fed shallow aquifers which resulted in the drying up and increased non functionality of hand dug wells, spring and ponds. The Meher assessment that was carried out in December 2016 in 7 regions indicates that some 6.4 million people in 200 woredas are still living in acute water scares areas. This is due to increased non-functionality of water points in the identified woredas, poor rain and lowering of ground water. Lack of WASH facilities and water supply was also identified in many schools and health facilities. 

Inadequate sanitation and hygiene practices and poor access to safe drinking water are key aspects in the cycle of disease, hunger, and poverty. The positive effects of WASH are directly linked to food security, in particular on health and nutrition, but also on economy, education and gender, appear to be derived from multiple interactions linked to improvements in household sanitation and hygiene practices, improvements in water quality and the quantity of water consumed. 

The overall objective of this project is to provide lifesaving emergency WASH Program for seven drought affected communities in SNNP and Oromia Regional States. The Woredas are Bena Tsemay, Male, Amaro and Kochere from SNNPR and Melka Bello, Dugda Dawa, and Melka Soda form Oromia. This Emergency Water, Sanitation and hygiene intervention will improve access to safe water for community and livestokes, reduce diarrhea and infectious diseases and avoid conflict among the populations due to water shortages in the affected areas. The targeted project interventions are drilling of shallow wells, rehabilitation of damaged water schemes, upgrading of existing water systems, pipeline extension to institutions, rehabilitation and construction of VIP latrines for health institutions hygiene education for proper hygiene practices and empowering the community to ensure sustainability of the projects. Additionally, water purification equipment will be distributed and the community will be trained to enhance the knowledge on household and community water quality.
 
The project will be implemented for nine months in the seven Woredas. In order to attain the project objective, WVE will deploy rehabilitation of WASH systems, capacity building, and community mobilization and formation/strengthening of WASH Committees. The project will directly benefit 111,124 people of the selected woredas. This project prioritizes those most vulnerable groups of people, especially children with high degree of vulnerability as primary beneficiaries. In addition, the project is designed to integrate gender throughout the interventions. The project considers the integration of other projects such as quality education for boys and girls, improving household food security, improving health and nutrition status and improved care and participation of children. The total budget/cost for the project including WV cost share will be USD745,507. WV will contribute a cost share of USD 45,500 on top of  the USD 700,007 funded by OCHA.