Project start date:	April 2007
	Duration:	2 years
	No. of beneficiaries:	approx. 70.000 Afar and their livestock
	Local partner organizations	APDA (Afar Pastoralist Development Association)
	Aim:	Prevention of famine disasters through hydro-engineering measures.

The Afar Region in northeast Ethiopia is one of the hottest and most inhospitable desert regions on earth. In recent years, the seasonal rains have failed again and again, leading to severe droughts. In large areas of the region these droughts have caused up to 80% of the livestock (camels, cows, goats) to perish, removing the Afar's means of existence.

To prevent the increased periods of drought from automatically leading to famine disasters, SONNE-International decided to initiate a project for the construction of ten water storage facilities in Zone 4 of the Afar Region. Specifically, over a period of three years, 5 dams, 4 water cisterns and one rooftop collection system for rainwater (constructed on a school building) were built.
As well as ensuring a basic provision for people and animals, this will also relieve the Afar women, who continue to perform most of the work in this society. The job of obtaining water alone can take up to ten hours each day!
The construction of the water storage facilities was successfully completed and the project was handed over to the local population in 2010.

This project was co-financed by:
ADA (90%)