supply chains and impact both formal and non-formal social protection systems. In providing a more spatially and temporally informed focus on a vulnerable area, the results underscore the need to revisit the dynamics between water and food-security in fragile contexts where many people live close to subsistence levels. The results also identify specific situational contexts where policy interventions targeted at protecting livelihoods and ensuring food-security, especially in times of crisis, may inadvertently perpetuate fragility rather than attenuate it.

Third, the research highlights the specific vulnerability of irrigated areas during periods of heightened fragility – which warrants appropriate policy consideration in the preparation of new interventions, both in the context of a surge in funding for the Sahel region in particular and also as part of COVID-19 recovery efforts more broadly. Few development levers can be activated like those in the water sector to respond to concerns ranging from protecting livelihoods, enhancing food security, generating employment opportunities for vulnerable groups, and protecting human capital and public health. Yet, water infrastructure tends to be costly with a high locked-in effect. For those reasons, it is essential to ensure that the deployment and design of interventions and infrastructure accounts for the existing local context and potential externalities, an issue that is all the more critical within the larger context of climate change.

One final contribution of this research is its demonstration of the need to continue pushing research even on issues considered or perceived to be well established, particularly in the case of water, a primordial foundation of development. The findings show that the systematic use of existing and new data can bring new insights and inform policy with required nuances in complex settings.

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