Borana Resilient Water Development for Resilient Livelihoods Program (Phase I+II)

Adaptation Need

Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country and the third-largest economy in Eastern and Southern Africa. Climate change in the Borana region is driving higher temperatures, extreme water scarcity and devastating floods, resulting in poor pasture productivity and growing food insecurity. Women and girls in the region are disproportionately affected. These effects include an increase in poverty, loss of livestock (a key source of livelihood for women in the region), reduced productivity, difficulty in maintaining proper hygiene, and are linked to increased gender-based violence. Interventions to date have been piecemeal, unsustainable and reactive, leaving communities without viable water management infrastructure even as water scarcity worsens.

GCA’s Added Value

Central to GCA’s role was a climate risk assessment of the Borana watershed—an analysis that pinpointed six climate hotspots across the Borana region. The findings directly informed the design of climate-smart infrastructure and natural resource management interventions. One of the most critical components analyzed was the Gelchet-Sarite water transmission route, a vital pipeline serving over 100,000 people and livestock. GCA’s modeling identified enhancements necessary to make this vital infrastructure more climate resilient: small-scale flood defenses, groundwater recharge structures, water storage systems and erosion controls. Separately, GCA’s Gender Vulnerability Assessment identified how climate change disproportionally impacts women. A Gender Action Plan identified ways to facilitate gender responsive activities within the AfDB project. Among the clearest outcomes of GCA’s engagement was the successful mobilization of an additional USD 9.4 million in climate adaptation finance through AfDB’s Climate Action Window—an 18% increase in total project financing.