May 20, 2022
Dear readers,
Welcome to the May 2022 Newsflash of the Flood-based Livelihoods Network. This time we have some exiting events to share with you and some interesting new resources that have been developed within the network. We trust these will be of benefit to you and will inspire you to work on improving the lives of those which depend on floods for their livelihoods.
As always, feel free to share input or resources through info@floodbased.org.
For now, stay safe and healthy,
The FBLN team.
Topics in this newsflash
- DREAM Updates – Recap of the DREAM II Conferences
- Experiences with IRWM from Sudan
- Upcoming Webinar on Pastoral Water Rights and Governance
- New tool: Water Harvesting Explorer
- New website for the network
- Recent Blog on ‘Pastoralist frontiers in Balochistan, Pakistan’
- New resources in the library
DREAM Updates – Recap of the recent DREAM II Conference
Dear Colleague,
From 15 – 18 March 2022 the DREAM II Conference took place in Adama, Ethiopia. DREAM stands for ‘Development of Resilience Empowering Alternative Measures in Arid and Semi-Arid Lowlands of Ethiopia’.
The annual DREAM conference take stock of tested and successful approaches developed for the lowlands in natural resource management, fodder and food production and access to water. The DREAM conferences are hosted by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and regional government of Afar and the Somali region, supported by the German Development Corporation GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit).
The objectives of the DREAM II conference were to support the systematic coordination of Lowland Development in Ethiopia in joint programming and capacity building and to take steps forward on the agenda to launch a number of initiatives for instance educational mainstreaming of low land development and working on practical cases of coordinated development. It consisted of the main conference from March 15-16 focussing on Cooperation, Coordination, and Capacity building in Lowland Development, a highlight event on March 17 on Developing a Coordinated Education and Employment Generation in the Lowlands, and a DREAM fair on March 18 showcasing inspiring lowland development activities.
The DREAM II Conference brought together a group of more than 180 participants. There was enthusiastic and energetic attendance and discussion throughout. A main outcome of the conference was the Joint Declaration – signed and endorsed by all participants in the conference.
The proceedings of the conference are now available and thecordings of all presentations are available through the websites. For the direct links check:
- The proceeding can be downloaded here.
- To get a glimpse of the activities during the conference, access the full program here.
- The presentations and recordings of the various sessions can be accessed here.
- The joint declaration of commitment can be downloaded here.
- Pictures of the DREAM II Conference can be accessed here.
Following the successful DREAM II Concerence the team is working on follow-up activities. These will be announced through the website https://sdr-africa.com/.
Experiences with IWRM from Sudan
Recently a report was published in which several IWRM interventions from the Aqua4Sudan Partnership are brought together and lessons learned are derived. Aqua4Sudan is a nation-wide partnership, consisting of International Aid Services (IAS), Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), Practical Action, Plan Sudan, SOS Sahel, World Relief and ZOA (lead partner). This partnership puts forward the operational concept and large-scale implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management across six states of Sudan.
Some of the notable impacts found are:
- Immediate impacts are improved soil and water conditions for farming and water for livestock.
- Improved water availability has introduced a repertoire of opportunities, which were picked up by the local community.
- Improved farming productivity directly boosted household food supply, nutrition uptake and health. This impact widely reached the entire community as farmers were able to quickly reach local markets and increase their food supplies.
- Long-term, indirect impacts include women’s empowerment and active participation in the workforce.
Read the report on the FBLN website and access a blog on the report here.
Upcoming Webinar on Pastoral Water Rights and Governance
The Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) is organising a series of webinars (more info on the series). On June 7th, 2022, a webinar will be organised focussing on Pastoral Water Rights and Governance. Below the original announcement can be found, including the details on how to register and participate.
Original announcement:
The Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN), the Coalition of European Lobbies for Eastern African Pastoralim (CELEP), Agrecol Association, Germany, IWMI, SIMAVI and partners are delighted to invite you to the 4th webinar of the RWSN Early Webinar Series 2022 entitled: “Pastoralist water rights and governance” on Tuesday 7 Jun 2022, 14:30 – 16:00 CEST.
Water supply projects often overlook or misunderstand mobile pastoralists’ water needs and management practices. Speakers from Africa and Asia will shed light on pastoralists’ water tenure, rights and governance, with particular attention to the issues of pastoralist women. This webinar will help build momentum and fill knowledge gaps in lead-up to the United Nations International Year of Rangelands & Pastoralists (IYRP) in 2026.
DATE: 7 Jun 2022
TIME: 14:30- 16:00 CEST
Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZPVQ9RQbRX-SZjyCMpvNbQ
The webinar will be in English with simultaneous translation in French, and will be recorded.
Did you miss the other webinars of the series? You can watch the recordings and see the presentations here.
New tool: Water Harvesting Explorer
The Water Harvesting Explorer is now available! It is a decision support tool to help identify potential for small scale WH interventions in the landscape of the Western Sahel: https://sahel.acaciadata.com/, available in English and French!
The webtool aims to provide an overview of the sustainable small-scale interventions that may be used in the landscapes of the Western Sahel. It allows practitioners to compare the technologies based on bio-physical typologies like precipitation, topography, land cover, etc. The webtool further enables the user to plan the type of intervention by conducting a rapid survey of the implementation modalities. Overall, the webtool guides the implementers to make strategic decisions about water harvesting in the Western Sahel based on the available biophysical data. Note that on-site visits will still be needed to better assess local conditions and to make final decisions on the most efficient water harvesting interventions to be adopted.
The consortium
This tool is developed by the partners of Acacia Water, RAIN (a brand of AidEnvironment), MetaMeta, IHE Delft and WOCAT. The tool is supported by the technical backstopping partners of Global Water Partnership, Verdant Earth, Stockholm Resilience Centre and UNESCO-IGRAC.
This webtool is based on the analytical work supported by the Water Global Practice group of the World Bank. This support is gratefully acknowledged.
New website for the network
In the past months the Flood Based Livelihoods Network has developed a new website. The domain name is now www.floodbased.org.
On the website you can find a wide range of resources from the network, a collection of pictures showcasing the work of the network and an extensive library with documents and reports.
For direct links, follow:
Recent Blog on ‘Pastoralist frontiers in Balochistan, Pakistan’
Based on experiences from the ongoing project in Pakistan, a blog has recently been published on TheWaterChannel, concerning the interaction between nomads, pastoral communities and crop farmers. The blog can be accessed on TheWaterChannel.
New resources
Several new resources have been uploaded on the website:
- Forwarding to Resilient Food Systems and Livelihoods, Report of the Water4Sudan IWRM project
- Sustainable rangeland management in Sub-Saharan Africa, Guidelines to good practice, WOCAT publication
- Inventory and drivers of the adoption of flood-based farming systems in South-Eastern Africa: Insights from Malawi, Research Paper
To close
Stay up to date with developments through our Facebook page, Twitter account and the FBLN website.
We hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter and we encourage you to share updates with the network!