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IFAD Country Programme in Somalia: Knowledge in Action 2005-06 In Somalia's troubled landscape, the IFAD-funded North-western Integrated Community Development Programme (NWICDP) has generated some impressive results in community agriculture in Somaliland that could be replicated elsewhere in the region and beyond. In a country suffering from widespread hunger, communities in the programme's target area are now producing enough to feed their large population. In the programme’s first phase, from 2002 to 2007, had the objective of improving household incomes and access to food, water and health services in some 500 villages and hamlets in the regions of Awdal, Wooqoyi and Galbeed in Somaliland. Activities have benefited the area’s entire population, especially agropastoralists, who are the largest and poorest group, and women in general. The majority of people in the region fled to refugee camps in Ethiopia during the most intense period of civil war in Somalia from 1992 to 1999. They have since returned in poverty to find their only remaining asset — their farmland — in a very poor state. Their land was overgrown and scored by gullies, and clearly showed other signs of soil erosion. As a result crop and livestock productivity had fallen dramatically, to the extent that it had become difficult to eke out a living from farming. Water supply was scarce and soon became contaminated because of overuse by humans and animals. Infrastructure such as roads and health clinics were missing. The regional government lacks funds to provide adequate health services, and the health sector depends heavily on donor funding. Because of the situation, men migrate in search of work during the dry season, and women returnees have found themselves economically and socially disadvantaged. With the erosion of traditional community values that comes as a result of displacement, they no longer enjoy the same authority and status that they had in the past. The programme has successfully raised agricultural production to surplus levels. It has achieved a sustainable level of food security and tackled deficiencies in nutrition and health conditions. Through small amounts of credit and simple technological improvements, it has helped build community-based support mechanisms by training community members in health care, crop production techniques and animal health care. The experience underscores the importance of anchoring investment activities to a process of participatory community development. Through their Joint Programme, IFAD and the Belgian Survival Fund financed the programme in Somaliland with a €5.3 million grant. A second phase of the programme, to begin in 2008, will consolidate and replicate its many achievements. The programme results illustrate progress in seven key strategic areas:
The programme area is a plateau that receives the full force of the rains that fall on the Ethiopian highlands. On a seasonal basis, rivers swell and burst their banks. Floods sweep through the area, carrying away the productive topsoils needed to cultivate crops. Gullies form where run-off water from the hills scores channels in the earth and leads to severe and widespread soil erosion. The shallow wells used by farmers for irrigation purposes are vulnerable to flood damage during the rainy season. The programme has implemented watershed management activities in various communities in the area through a local NGO, the Somaliland Participatory Sustainable Development and Rehabilitation Agency (SPSDARA). Programme managers made preliminary assessments of areas targeted for watershed development and then drew up a list of farms to be included. The programme has used various systems to conserve watersheds and protect farmland against severe soil erosion by rehabilitating specific watershed areas serving one or two farming communities. Rehabilitation activities include contour-bunding from ridge to valley, and building loose stone dams and diversion channels and stone terracing lines. All of these measures are designed to slow the flow of water, stop sheet and gully erosion and eventually recover areas scored by big gullies. They also allow rain water to infiltrate the soil instead of passing over it too rapidly to be absorbed, preventing loss of topsoil, irrigating the land, improving soil humidity, replenishing underground acquifers and increasing crop productivity. The programme has implemented six watersheds in the following communities:
Watershed management and soil erosion control measures are intimately connected. The same methods used to avoid the loss of productive topsoils also ensure that water passing through an area can be exploited to provide a supply for the dry season. In many parts of Somalia, during the rainy season flooding swells rivers and erodes river embankments, engulfing surrounding areas. Irrigated farms along the river banks are at the mercy of these floods, which destroy land and shallow wells and lead to loss of equipment such as water pumps and irrigation pipes. The programme introduced a range of measures to control soil erosion and prevent flood damage. A major programme innovation has been the introduction of stone channels that divert water from hilly terrain to a seasonal riverbed. If the river’s embankments are built up to contain the seasonal expansion of water, the water can then be diverted through the stone channels to irrigate crops.
Animal and mechanical traction Farmland needs to be ploughed and prepared for sowing at the appropriate time for cultivation. Farmers in the programme area had very limited access to tractors and animal traction for ploughing. The programme’s goal was to provide more than 880 oxen and some tractors for ploughing purposes on a revolving fund basis. The revolving funds are managed by credit associations in target communities. Groups of four farmers receive a team of oxen. They repay the loan to the community credit association in two instalments over two years, with money earned from their harvest. With this repayment they buy another team of oxen that are then given to a new group of farmers in the village. The process continues until eventually all farmers in the community have access to oxen for ploughing and can benefit from animal traction during the sowing season.
One of the programme's priorities was to boost agricultural and livestock productivity by training representatives of farmers' groups in new farming techniques and setting up a sustainable animal health service. Farmers in the area had been using poor quality seeds for cultivation, and their farming practices — such as broadcasting, or sowing seed by scattering it widely — were also outdated and inefficient. Crop yields were very poor as a result. The programme trained district agricultural extension officers in its area of operation and provided them with motorbikes for transport and a monthly salary. The district officers were supported by a technical expert from a research station in western Sudan where environmental and social conditions were similar to those in the programme areas. The district extension officers then set up a network of community agricultural workers by training and supervising farmers in strategically placed communities in the area. In turn, by creating demonstration plots the farmers taught local farmers the benefits of new techniques for improving productivity. A number of techniques, such as spacing, planting in rows to maximize the use of irrigation water, intercropping, and introducing drought-resistant, high yielding crop varieties, have already been widely adopted by farmers in the programme areas. Having generally worked with their hands until then, the farmers were pleased to discover that ploughing and using hand tools enabled them to prepare much larger areas of land for cultivation.
In addition to watershed management activities, the programme has installed small-scale irrigation systems on selected farms. In Somaliland irrigation farms are normally established along dry riverbeds and irrigated with water from shallow wells or natural springs. During the civil war all the irrigated farms in the programme area were totally destroyed. Farmers returning to their land had to start from scratch to make their farms productive. The programme set up a revolving fund for irrigated farms that is managed by the farmers’ own credit associations. The fund enables farmers to rehabilitate their shallow wells and procure necessary inputs. Once the land has become productive, farmers make repayment to the community's credit association in three equal instalments over a one-year period. This type of revolving fund brings rapid results. A farmer returning to his land can expect to support himself and his family and become independent in about 15 to 18 months, once he has received credit to make his land productive. Dhabolaq is a small agropastoralist community in the Hargeisa region, 10 km southwest of Arabsio in Gabiley district. Local people practise small-scale subsistence farming and raise goats and sheep. The village is situated on the banks of a dry riverbed that floods for a few hours when it rains upstream. The dry riverbed feeds rainwater into the main seasonal river, the Hargeisa River. In neighbouring Arabsio there are a number of irrigated farms. In early 2003 a programme team surveyed the area and concluded that it had good potential for irrigated farming. The team met with the village development committee to discuss the possibility of developing irrigation systems for local farms. The objective was to enable farmers to produce cash crops such as vegetables and fruit instead of the standard sorghum and cowpeas cultivated at subsistence level. Selected farms received cash credit from the programme to initiate irrigated farming. By September 2003 six of the farmers had received credit to set up irrigated farming systems. The community development officers supported the community in organizing the systems and establishing a credit committee to manage credit. Farmers then dug ponds to serve as water catchment areas for neighbouring farms. The water engineer assisted them in planning and designing shallow wells and earth bundings for protection against floods. The agricultural extension officers advised them on the best techniques to use with this type of irrigated farming. By September 2006, to have a more sustainable livelihood a large part of the community had shifted from agropastoralism to irrigated farming and raising livestock. Some community members who were living and working in Hargeisa have returned to the village to invest in irrigated farming. As a result of this influx, nine new irrigated farms have been established, bringing the total to 15. Water conservation and management Water is very scarce in the region. Water sources are often highly contaminated because they are overused, both by people and by animals. During the rainy season many farmers in the area cultivate crops on the banks of the dry riverbed, using hand-dug shallow wells as their water source. During the dry season no water is available for drinking or cultivation. Local people are forced to travel long distances to fetch water, or they have to migrate from the area in search of water for themselves and their animals. The programme helped the target population rehabilitate and/or construct new water points such as shallow wells and earthen dams to ensure that they have year-round safe water supplies. Investigations carried out in the past had convinced people that there was only impenetrable rock and no underground water sources underlying the area west of Hargeisa and extending all the way to Borama town. The British had attempted to drill for water during the colonial period, and the Chinese tried again in the 1980s, but both without success. After civil war broke out, various agencies attempted to address the problem of water scarcity in these areas by randomly drilling boreholes to tap underground sources. Most attempts were unsuccessful and wasteful of resources. The NWICDP managing unit carried out geophysical surveys to locate areas that might potentially contain underground water sources before any drilling operations were undertaken. The unit used historical data and geophysical surveys. In 1999 and then in 2005, a geophysicist recruited by the programme undertook surveys using electrical resistivity in areas experiencing acute water shortages. The surveys pinpointed areas in the Gabiley, Kalabeit, Dilla, Gogolwanag, Borama and Botor districts that were likely to have underground water sources. An IFAD grant made it possible to drill at one of the sites in Dilla. To the delight of local people, the drilling was successful. Since then, Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI), Kuwait Fund and the Government of Somaliland have drilled at three of the other sites surveyed by the programme. UNICEF is planning to drill boreholes in Botor, where surveys revealed the presence of what amounts to underground rivers that extend for several kilometres in some places. The Dilla borehole is now a permanent source of clean water supplying the village and surrounding area. The day the water was first pumped out in Dilla, two men aged 103 and 105 left their homes to witness the great event. At the time of British rule, they had asked that a borehole be drilled, but they had been told there was no underground water in their area. To see water flowing freely in their village was the fulfilment of a dream they had nurtured all their lives. "I used to sit in my office facing towards the eastern parts of Somaliland, thinking about the possibility of drilling for underground water," said the Minister of Water and Mineral Resources in Hargeisa. "I had given up hope of finding water in the area to the west of Hargeisa. Now I can look in both directions with confidence! This is a breakthrough! We are very grateful to IFAD for its efforts." As part of its quest to find water for human and animal consumption and for agriculture, the programme has also come up with the innovative idea of sand storage dams. These are concrete dams built across dry river beds. When the river floods during the rainy season, it deposits sand behind the dams. The sand allows the floodwater to percolate into the soil and replenish the aquifers below. This in turn helps raise the water levels in the shallow wells in the middle of the valley. Four sand storage dams were constructed by the programme, working together with the communities. One was built in Hargeisa region and three in Awdal region.
Health services in the target area were extremely limited, and most of the population had little access to health care and medicines. Malaria is common in the area as is pneumonia in the dry season and diarrhoea in the rainy season. The goals of the programme were to:
Tulli is a village located 25 km east of Borama and it is home to about 3,500 people, most of them farmers. The main road connecting Borama to Hargeisa passes through the village. In the past villagers had no access to basic medical drugs. They had to travel to Borama to buy medicines to treat disease, bearing the expenses of travel, accommodation and food. The community health worker had a UNICEF medical drug kit but had no training in proper use of its contents. The medicines were consumed and were never replaced, and people tended to go to him for advice only in emergency cases. The NWICDP health officer helped mobilize the community to establish a local health post in the village and elect a health post management committee. Committee members were trained by the programme in the financial management of the health post. In January 2005 the health clinic was furnished and stocked with medical drugs worth US$300. The new health post brought inexpensive health service to the community. Villagers no longer had to travel to seek treatment. The clinic functions well and serves the community of Tulli and other villages such as Walaalgo and Harahorato. Members of the management committee keep records of all transactions. The community health worker works regularly and has ample opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired in training sessions. He buys new stock every month, using a revolving fund replenished by the sale of medicines, and he keeps a record of patients and their diseases. He also says he has gained more experienced in treating common diseases such as pneumonia in the cold dry season, and diarrhoea at the start of the rainy season. The Eilginiseed health postEilginiseed is an irrigated farming community in the district of Gabiley, about 15 km north of the town of Gabiley. The population of Eilginiseed comprises about 160 farming families. The area was subject to frequent outbreaks of malaria because mosquitoes bred in water in the stream and in shallow wells on the farms. The fear of malaria in the area was so great that farmers were unable to find enough labourers willing to work their land. Productivity was in sharp decline, and the incomes of people in the community fell dramatically every year between May and August. To avoid malaria, people were migrating from their villages to the main towns. Many of those who remained were often seriously ill with malaria and spent large sums of money for treatment. In response to a community request, the project trained a community health worker, established a health post and equipped it with medical drugs. It trained committees in finance and the management of revolving funds for medical drugs. The health post has contributed to a substantial improvement in community health. Trained village health committee members manage the post, and they use money generated from the sale of drugs to replenish stocks. In this way local people have access to essential drugs within their village. The number of serious malaria cases has dropped, and in recent years no complicated cases have been referred to Gabiley district hospital. Labourers are once again working the irrigated farms throughout the year, and this is a sure sign that malaria is under control in the area. Improving women's health and education The programme has greatly improved conditions for local women in terms of health, education and livelihood opportunities. Initiatives to improve health included training traditional birth attendants with the aim of reducing the high rate of maternal and infant mortality. The programme launched n awareness-raising campaign to educate local people about the health risks linked to female genital mutilation. Literacy classes for women have provided them with new opportunities for status and empowerment within the community.
Abandoning female genital mutilation in the community of Boodhlet Boodhlet is a rainfed farming community located 17km south of the town of Gabiley. The village has six satellites and includes about 400 farming families. As elsewhere in the region, health problems are mainly a result of poor nutrition, poor living conditions and traditional belief systems. Female genital mutilation is widely practised among traditional Somali people, especially in rural communities, and it is the cause of many health problems. In particular it contributes to Somalia’s high maternal and infant mortality rates. To address the issue, NWICDP's rural health component organized a series of awareness-raising community discussions on the risks of practising female genital mutilation. The discussions targeted various groups within the community, including religious sheikhs, elders, mothers, young people and rural women's groups. People in Boodhley learned about the harmful effects of female genital cutting and decided to abandon the practice in their community. As an immediate result 20 girls from 9 to 11 years old were saved from genital mutilation. As the mothers said, "We want to make our girls happy and healthy." This collective decision will help break down the cultural and traditional barriers defending the practice in rural communities. The health of young girls and mothers will be improved and there will be fewer deaths among mothers and infants. Other communities will certainly learn and benefit from this village’s action. Empowerment of womenAsha Abdi and her husband live in Hidhinta village. The programme has brought much-needed improvements to their household. The productivity of their farm improved enormously after bunding was introduced in the village, and they have reaped bumper harvests, including cash crops such as tomatoes, onions and watermelons. But it is the programme's literacy training classes for women that have brought unexpected benefits. Because Asha's husband is illiterate he is unable to keep records of his business transactions. His young wife enrolled in the literacy classes organized by NWICDP in 2005, and now she keeps her husband's records. He is highly appreciative of what the programme has done for the community, and for women in particular. He encourages other men in the village to allow their women to participate in the women's empowerment programmes, telling them how his wife has been able to assist him after attending the classes. Now not only is his wife literate and able to play a key role in his business, but she has also been selected as secretary of the Al-Najah women's group in the village.
Old Baki village: the global benefits of the programme Old Baki village is located in mountainous terrain where some farmers practise irrigation farming along the riverbanks and others cultivate crops and raise animals in nearby forests and in mountain scrubland. The village was disadvantaged in a number of areas. The village development committee approached the programme, which responded by conducting a participatory rural appraisal exercise there. Through an analysis of priorities it became clear that the major problems in the village were a lack of clean drinking water, inadequate health services and schools, and low crop productivity. Although water was available, the supply was not clean. The source was a stream that filled during the rainy season, leaving a pond in the dry season that was used by local people and their livestock. The water supply regularly became contaminated, and malaria and diarrhoea were on the rise in the area. The population of Old Baki decreased each year, and enrolment in elementary school was declining. The only community health worker in the village was desperately short of drugs. Sick people had to travel as far as Borama for treatment. An NWICDP engineer made a survey of underground water availability close to the village and found a source of good quality water. The programme constructed a shallow well and equipped it with a hand pump. The well has brought numerous benefits for the community. In particular it:
There are about 100 farms in the area. Most farmers have no access to tractors or oxen, and they are not able to plough the full extent of their land. The programme's revolving credit fund for tractor ploughing hours has already enabled about 80 farms to become fully functioning, with a corresponding rise in productivity. Now even when grain production fails farmers still make a profit from selling sorghum stalks as animal feed, since most people raise livestock in this mountainous area. Altogether NWICDP constructed one shallow well with a hand pump, established a revolving fund for tractor use and another for medical drugs, trained a community health worker and traditional birth attendant and conducted literacy classes for village women. All these improvements in living conditions in the village have lessened the need to migrate from the village. More children are attending school instead of dropping out to accompany their migrating parents. The success of NWICDP's literacy classes for women has made local people aware of the importance and benefits of educating women, and as a result more girls are being allowed to attend school. On the basis of these excellent results the village development committee was invited to identify its next priorities according to the community action plan developed by NWICDP. The committee chose to focus on improving access to education. The Small and Medium Enterprises Competitive Facility of Denmark (SCF Denmark) has helped build more classrooms and a school kitchen, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) built a dining hall and introduced a school feeding programme that provides breakfast and lunch for the children.
Source: IFAD |
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