The role of Groundwater in Drought Resilience in the IGAD Region

Validation Workshop, Addis Ababa, July 26-27, 2017 

The World Bank Regional Initiative in Support of the Horn of Africa (2014) envisioned to conduct a regional groundwater assessment to address food insecurity, energy insecurity and water insecurity, and promote regional integration. The first phase of work on the Regional Groundwater Initiative (RGI) is being executed with the objective determining to what degree groundwater can contribute systematically and practically to strengthen resilience of drought affected communities in the IGAD region.

The World Bank and IGAD Secretarial organised a workshop to discuss and validate the outcome of the preliminary groundwater knowledge & capacity assessments in the IGAD region. Around 40 experts, Technical Advisor Committee (TAC) members, regional and international specialists in groundwater resources and groundwater use were invited for the review of the preliminary assessments and present their views on further groundwater developments in the region. 

IGRAC was invited to contribute on several subjects, namely: transboundary groundwaters, groundwater monitoring and Managing Aquifer Recharge (MAR). This was not without a good reason: already in 2010, IGRAC co-organised a ISARM workshop in Addis Ababa (http://isarm.org/igad-region-meeting-2010), in 2012 the first regional workshop on Global Groundwater Monitoring Network (GGMN) programme in Nairobi and has already a record of innovative MAR activities in the region.

The workshop was very productive, providing the foundation for further work on groundwater and drought resilience in this challenging region.