Water, Relief and Development:

Examples from Ethiopia and Asia

Emily FarrM.S. Candidate, Friedman School of

Nutrition Science and Policy

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Agenda

• Right to water

• Oxfam America-funded water projects in Ethiopia (development)

• Priorities and Standards of water in emergencies

• Tsunami response (relief)

• Discussion

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Oxfam America

• Headquarters in Boston (Downtown Crossing)– Policy & Advocacy office based in DC

• Regional offices in Ethiopia, Senegal, Peru, Cambodia and El Salvador.

• Mission statement: to develop lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice.

• Part of Oxfam International

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Oxfam America

• Small office in Addis Ababa• Method: work through local partners

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Relief & Development

• Water projects in Ethiopia as development.• Fallacy of “relief to development

continuum.” • Horn of Africa as “chronic emergency.”

– This year, about 7.5 million Ethiopians in need of food aid.

– Some water projects are relief/drought mitigation.

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Oxfam’s Strategic Plan

• Five right-based aims provide framework.• Aim 1: “Right to a sustainable livelihood.”

– Strategic Change Objective: “People living in poverty will achieve food and income security as well as greater protection of, and control over the natural resources on which they depend.”

• Livelihoods: “The ways in which people access and mobilize resources that enable them to pursue goals necessary for their survival and longer-term, and thereby reduce the vulnerability created and exacerbated by conflict” (FIFC 2002).

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Right to Water

• Water not explicitly mentioned in Universal Declaration of Human Rights.– Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and

security of person.– Article 25: Everyone has the right to a standard of

living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

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Right to Water (2)

• Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990): provision of adequate nutritious food and clean drinking water are responsibilities of the State.

• Article 14(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979): States must ensure women the right to “enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to … water supply”.

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Right to Water (3)

• Article 11 and 12, Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: parties must “recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.”

• In a General Comment on November 2002, the UN Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights recognized that Articles 11 and 12 can be seen as a legal basis for the right to water.

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Right to Water (4)

• Access to a basic water requirement is a fundamental human right implicitly supported by international law.

• The right to water “requires government activities to progressively increase the number of people with safe, affordable and convenient access to drinkable water.”

Source: Laifungbam, 2003 (http://www.jubileesouth.org/news/EpZyVVlyFygMevRBey.shtml)

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Right to Water (5)

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html)

• Water as a Human Right? (http://www.iucn.org/themes/law/pdfdocuments/EPLP51EN.pdf)

• Right to Water: Fact Sheet 2 (cesr.org/filestore2/download/448)

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Case Study 1: Yabello

Ethiopia

Addis Ababa

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Case Study 1: Yabello• The remote area surrounding Yabello is home to Borena

pastoralists.– Pastoralists are people whose livelihood depends primarily on livestock.– Can be nomadic, semi-nomadic or sedentary.– Boren diet is primarily milk, with some maizeand occasionally meat.

• Around Yabello, pastoralists have identified lack of wateras their primary problem.

• Oxfam’s local partner: Action for Development (AFD).

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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The Problem of WATER

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Water projects in Yabello

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Water projects in Yabello

Rooftop catchment

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Water projects in Yabello

Bore hole

Cre

dit:

UN

ICEF

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Water projects in Yabello

Rainwater catchment system (not funded by Oxfam)

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Water projects in Yabello

Traditional ponds

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Water projects in Yabello

Rehabilitation of traditional water supplies: elas

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Case Study 1: Yabello

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The Chichale Yatu Ela

Aba Herrega

Reservoir

Overflow pond

Cattle trough

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The Chichale Yatu Ela

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Aba Herrega and the Gadaa System

• The Gadaa is the democratic political, social and cultural institution of the Borana—their government.

• Enables the management of natural resources.

• Critical loss of grazing lands makes project necessary.

More info: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42147&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa

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Impacts of water projects

• Decreased distance; reduced workload• Water for livestock to drink

– Once a week every other day• Water for human consumption & HH use

– “In dry times, there wasn’t water for our children to drink. Now they can drink as much as they want to.”

– “There is now clean water for our food preparation, and there is water to wash our clothes. There is water to wash ourselves and our children.”

• Health– Increased sanitation and reduced parasites

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Anticipated long term impacts

• Food and nutrition– Animals produce more milk– More time for food producing/preparation

activities• Income

– Healthier animals receive higher price– Extra milk can be sold– More time for income-generating activities

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Criticisms of Water Projects

• Environmental degradation due to overgrazing

• Overuse of resources and increased sedentarisation

• Encourages unviable livelihood

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Criticisms of Water Projects

• Traditional water points are often labor-intensive, such as the digging of deep wells, which helps to limit their use and the potential grazing pressures that accompany them (Blench, 2001).

• Projects to improve water supply in Africa have “been seen as the solution to evening out the variability in precipitation that leads to periodic crashes in livestock numbers through making pasture in waterless regions accessible…[but] they increase sedentarization and thus break down the traditional pattern of seasonal migration between dry and wet season pastures” (Blench, 2001).

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Defense

• Pastoralists have a vested interest in the protection of their resources, hundreds of years of experience and the Borana have a complex protection system in place.

• Webb and Coppock (1997) state that water projects such as boreholes, ponds and wells are “one of the most simple and effective interventions to safeguard and expand access to forage supplies.”

• My conclusion: pastoralism is an amazingly viable livelihood in marginal lands that cannot support agriculture.

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Sources

• Blench, Roger (2001). You can’t go home again. Pastoralism in the new millennium. London: ODI.

• Farr, Emily (2004). Pastoralist Nutrition, Food Security and Vulnerability to Shocks. Unpublished.

• Webb, P. and D. Coppock (1997). “Prospects for Pastoralism in Semi-Arid Africa.” In Vosti, S., and Thomas Reardon, eds., Sustainability, Growth and Poverty Alleviation: A Policy and Agroecological Perspective. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 246-260.

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Shashemene

Case Study 2

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Case Study 2: Shashemene

• The community identified the lack of waterand education as their primary problems.

• Project: pipeline extension into rural areas.

• Local partner: Center for Development Initiatives (CDI).

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Case Study 2: Shashemene

• Objectives: to provide potable drinking water, reduce time to collect water, improve sanitation and hygiene and develop the technical skills of the community.

• Overall goal of improving the quality of life of the community by increasing food security and basic infrastructure.

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Impacts

• The travel distance– Average 7 km 1.3 km (8.6 hours 0.9 hours)

• Health and sanitation– The prevalence of malaria and parasitic infections has

decreased: “Before, water would be standing for four or five days but we would still collect it because there was a shortage. It would have parasites and we would get sick easily when we used it. The mosquitoes were around it.”

– “Formerly hygiene was bad—we didn’t wash our clothes because it was too far to carry the clothes to the river. We just focused on drinking. Now we can wash our clothes even when it does not rain.”

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Long term impacts

• Education– Water points placed near CDI’s schools

(formal and non-formal)– School enrollment grew by 32% in 2002-2003– Dropout rate went from 34% to 15% – Percentage of girls in schools has gone from

28% to 40%– In conjunction with a campaign to condemn

girls’ abductions

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Ziway

Case Study 3

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Case Study 3: Ziway

• Irrigation project for small-scale farmers at several sites around Lake Ziway.

• Objectives: to increase food security, but underlying objectives of land security and gender equity (RBA).

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Impacts

• Nutrition, dietary diversity and food security

• Increased income– Education, houses, health

• Land security• Impacts on wider

community

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Long-term impacts

• Drought resistance = no food aid

• Ability to manage and maintain irrigation system

• Prevent resettlement and urban poverty

• Increase gender equity

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Questions on Water and Development?

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Water and Relief

Credit: Max Martin/Oxfam

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Water and Relief

• Water and sanitation are the most immediate needs in an emergency.

• Crucial to prevent communicable diseases and epidemics—major causes of morbidity and mortality in emergencies.

– In Goma, 1994, 85% of deaths were from diarrheal disease (shigella and cholera).

– Over 30,000 refugees died in the first three weeks from a cholera outbreak. Dysentery killed even more than cholera throughout the 1994 exodus of Rwandan refugees. Estimates are between 46,000 and 63,000 that died from shigella dysenteriae.

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Priorities

• Water supply, latrines, site selection and planning, garbage disposal, vector control, hygiene promotion, drainage and waste water disposal.

• Reduction of morbidity due to diarrhea:– Sanitation: 36%– Hygiene: 33%– Water quantity: 20%– Water quality: 15%

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Importance of wat/san in disease

Source: MSF/Malawian Ministry of Health

The F Diagram

Faeces

Fingers

Flies

Fields

Fluids

FoodsNew Host

Faeces

Fingers

Flies

Fields

Fluids

FoodsNew Host

Water Quality

Hand washing and Water Quantity

Sanitation

Food Hygiene

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Sources of water in emergencies

• Rehab of pre-existing systems, piped water systems (gravity fed or pumped), shallow well, trucking, other (rainwater, springs)

• Emergency equipment: tanks, bladders, tapstands, pumping/treatment systems

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Latrines and Water Equipment

Credit: UNICEF

Credit: Oxfam

Credit: UNICEF

Credit: UNICEF

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Sphere Standards (1)

• Minimum standards for disaster response• Chapters on:

– Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion– Food Security, Nutrition and Food Aid– Shelter, Settlements and Non-food items– Health Services

• Free to download at http://www.sphereproject.org/handbook/index.htm

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Sphere Standards (2)

• Chapter 2: Minimum Standards in Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene

• Six main sections– Hygiene Promotion– Water Supply– Excreta Disposal– Vector Control– Solid Waste Management– Drainage

• Each section contains minimum standards, key indicators and guidance notes

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Sphere Standards (3)• Water supply standard 1: access and water

quantity• Key indicators:

– Average water use for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene in any household is at least 15 litres per person per day

– The maximum distance from any household to the nearest waterpoint is 500 metres

– Queuing time at a water source is no more than 15 minutes

– It takes no more than three minutes to fill a 20-litre container

– Water sources and systems are maintained such that appropriate quantities of water are available consistently or on a regular basis

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Asian earthquake and tsunami

• Millions displaced; wat/san systems contaminated or destroyed

• Pipes clogged, wells salinated• Displaced people lacked basic hygiene

materials• Disease was a concern

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Oxfam wat/san activities in Asian disaster

• Oxfam’s expertise in emergencies is in providing water and sanitation

• Oxfam distributed relief kits: soap, water purification tablets, plastic sheeting, candles, matches, laundry detergent, shampoo, sanitary napkins and other necessary items packaged in the Oxfam bucket.

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Oxfam wat/san activities in Asian disaster

• Brought in desalination equipment, slurry pumps, hand tools and wheelbarrows

• Set up water bladders and tanks• Built latrines and hand-washing areas• Hygiene promotion and rapid response to

reports of disease• Cash-for-work programs to clean up

garbage

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Oxfam wat/san activities in Asian disaster

Credit: Oxfam

Credit: Oxfam

Credit: Mona LaczoOxfamCredit: Lina Holguin/Oxfam

Credit: Mona LaczoOxfam

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Sources

• UNICEF Water Environment Sanitation Division (http://www.unicef.org/wes/)

• Sphere Project (http://www.sphereproject.org)

• Oxfam America (http://www.oxfamamerica.org)

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Why development and relief activities around water are important

• 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water worldwide• 2.4 billion lack access to proper sanitation• About 4 billion cases of diarrhea occur annually. 2.2

million people died from diarrheal disease in 2000. 80% of those deaths were children under 5 years of age.

• 12 million people die a year from lack of potable water, including 3 million children from waterborne diseases

• 10% of the developing world suffer from intestinal worm infections; 6 million people are blind from trachoma and 200 million people in the world are infected with schistosomiasis.

Source: UNICEF

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Thank you!