This journey began when, after 27 years, the World Bank began working in Somalia again in 2015, launching a small-scale infrastructure project based around water—a project now flourishing, having added services in agriculture, livestock, and environment to its objectives.
Its story is a good example of sequencing analytical work and scaling up projects to build systems in a country. It also shows how to work with clients and communities as collaborators and how to implement sustainable programming in Fragile Conflict and Violence (FCV) environments.
The World Bank decided to pilot the Water for Agropastoral Livelihoods Project (WALP) in areas of Puntland and Somaliland after analytical research showed boreholes were not always a cost effective or a reliable solution for supplying water to people living in rural Somalia, and how it might be possible to instead store water in sand rivers known as wadis, using centuries-old water technologies.
The objective of the US$2 million pilot project was to prove whether building sand dams or subsurface dams in dry riverbeds in Somaliland and Puntland was feasible, and whether World Bank projects could be implemented using Government systems only.
We found that not only was it possible, but the pilot was successful and grew to become the US$42 million Water for Agropastoral Productivity and Resilience Project, locally known as the Biyoole project (in Somali “Biyoole†means water carrier) which, at the end of 2022, will become the US$70 million Somalia Water for Rural Resilience Project, which the client has renamed the Barwaaqo project (in Somali, “Barwaaqo†means prosperity or blessing).
Two studies were conducted prior to launching the pilot, one looking into the development potential of a wadi from a macro- and more technical perspective, and the other a micro- study focusing on the socio economic aspects of sand dams. From a macro- perspective, sand dams were a good choice, mainly due to the fact they mitigate evapotranspiration.
However, the concern was whether local communities would accept them since, in sand dams, the water can’t be seen because it is stored in the sand. In sand dams and subsurface dams, as Tesfaye Bekalu, World Bank Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, explains,
“sand effectively serves as a temporary reservoir cover, protecting the precious water underneath from evaporating under the blazing sun.â€
The other concern was the Somali government’s capacity then and whether it could receive money from the World Bank, implement projects, and account for the disbursed funds. WALP was therefore set up with a “belt and braces†approach, with an international engineering firm contracted to backstop its implementation, providing the client with real-time support on the ground using money from the World Bank’s Trust Fund.
Trust Funds are an invaluable form of support for fragile states, acting as an entry point for highly concessional funding from the Bank’s International Development Association, known as IDA.
The Bank’s project team was able to support its clients and empower them, whilst financial management and procurement teams made it possible to keep moving forward.
Trust, transparent collaboration, and a lot of hands-on support were key and set the foundation for the next phase. In the past two years, thanks to the dedication of Project Implementation Units (PIUs) and engineers, the Biyoole project has completed the construction of 50 water points in some of the most remote areas of Somalia.
At times, engineers slept in tents by the side of wadis; they also made sure local communities would receive the services being planned. In Puntland, 20 minutes of rainfall in May this year, just as the Rabaable sand dam was finished, sustained the community until September, allowing them to irrigate and cultivate their farms, take care of their livestock, and earn a livelihood by, for example, selling the dates they grow to nearby towns. They were able to provide water for the building of an asphalt road into Garowe, Puntland’s administrative capital.
