In the majority of regions in Africa, water becomes the crucial element for the survival of entire communities that depend mostly on agriculture. Water scarcity becomes a double nightmare for the people that risk not only dehydration but also hunger. The need to resolve water quality and scarcity issues in Africa gave birth to the African Water Facility (AWF) an initiative put together by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW).  The main goal of this association is to rally resources in order to fund sustainable water development projects in Africa.  The African Development Bank (AFDB), that comprises 53 independent African countries, is responsible for funding the AWF. The financing of projects and operational procedures are approved by the AFDB.

The AWF’s official mandate is to  “improve the enabling environment and strengthen water resources management in Africa by attracting appropriate investments necessary to achieve national and regional water objectives” (Source: http://www.africanwaterfacility.org/en/about-us/mission-and-mandate/ ). It is important to understand that the AWF works in collaboration with the leaders of Regional Member Countries (RMCs) in order to consolidate water governance increase investments to develop water development programs and finally raise awareness on water issues amongst the local population. Considering the endeavor of their many ambitious projects, the AWF directly collaborates with many important partners like the World Water Council, the Global Water Partnership, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and various other organizations. In order to keep track of its various projects, to keep investors and the public informed the AWF publishes frequent reports on its website, an important step for transparency and a symbol of its long term commitment.

So far, the organization has a considerable portfolio of 64 approved projects that sum up to a value of €76.523 million (Source: http://www.africanwaterfacility.org/en/projects-activities/approved-projects/ ). The 2006 Support to the Development of Water Information and Knowledge Management Systems project in Ethiopia is worth having a closer look at since it presents a concrete successful example of a grassroots initiatives that aims at improving the problems at the base of water management instead of aiming at improving water quality or quantity without even having the bases to do so. The project in Ethiopia aims at “addressing the water data and information needs of the country to facilitate the planning, implementation, monitoring, sustainable water resources management and development” (Source: http://www.africanwaterfacility.org/fileadmin/uploads/awf/projects-activities/ETHIOPIA_IKS_APPRAISAL_RPT_DF190906.PDF). This initiative will enable the country to have access to a national system of water information management in order to save time and money and set strong bases for water management projects and infrastructure rebuilding. Having all the information presented and organized in a clear fashion will also become a strong asset on the long term that will serve as a bargaining tool with future investors. Ethiopia has an important possibility for growth due to the large quantity of arable land that should be exploited. While agriculture “provides 85% of the population livelihood” (Source: http://www.africanwaterfacility.org/fileadmin/uploads/awf/projects-activities/ETHIOPIA_IKS_APPRAISAL_RPT_DF190906.PDF) due to draughts and poor technology of equipments, agriculture still fails to satisfy the food requirements of the country. Rain-fed agriculture is simply not enough especially in the most arid regions of the country. Before starting to build wells and launch concrete water development programs a lot of initial research and work needs to be done in order to fully evaluate the country’s situation to better target the needs and priorities of the population. This is why The Support to the Development of Water Information and Knowledge management Systems project is so fundamental insofar it will set the base for all the future sustainable water initiatives on the territory.  For wide scale development projects, cooperation and mostly coordination of the resources are fundamental to the success and durability of the development.  The initial start up time estimated for the launch of the project is around 18 months. The monitoring and evaluation of the project will serve for the implementation, supervision and completion of the project.

As long as Ethiopia lacks a comprehensive organization of water data, research and information storage, development projects will be much harder to implement in an efficient manner. “The establishment of a water information and knowledge management system that has national consensus will contribute to national development planning and management of Ethiopia’s water resources (Source: http://www.africanwaterfacility.org/fileadmin/uploads/awf/projects-activities/ETHIOPIA_IKS_APPRAISAL_RPT_DF190906.PDF).  This project is of a major importance insofar it will lay the foundation base on Ethiopia’s potential development projects and with the hopes of a better water systems comes the hope of an economical growth due to the increase benefits of a more prosperous agriculture activity.