Improvement of Dryland Livelihoods in Djibouti and Somalia through Productivity Enhancing Technologies

Djibouti, Somalia

The project’s main development objective is to improve the livelihoods of pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities by increasing productivity through the adoption of improved technologies for farming and the sustainable management of water, watersheds, rangelands, and small ruminants. The proposed OFID contribution will be partially financing the delivery of various technology packages and capacity development activities. The objectives are to: (i) deliver technological packages to increase and stabilize the productivity of sorghum/maize based rainfed production systems and of fruits/vegetables irrigated based agriculture farming systems; (ii) deliver technological packages to increase and stabilize the productivity of rangelands and small ruminants; (iii) demonstrate and promote efficient watershed management technologies; and (iv) improve the capacities of national research and extension staff to provide support services to pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and irrigation farmers. The project target group comprises 51,330 rural households (43,000 in Somaliland and 8,330 in Djibouti). In Somaliland, these households benefited from the IFAD/BFFS grant-funded NWICDP II and the associated IFAD/OFID grant-funded Food Security for Pastoralists II Programme (FSPP), both of which closed in September 2015. In Djibouti the target group includes 8,330 households that benefited from the IFAD-financed PROMES-GDT which closed in June 2015 and up scaled under the "Programme de gestion des eaux et des sols –PROGRES" (scheduled for completion on 30 June 2024), and the 2,000 households that benefited from the Somalia FSPP. The direct beneficiaries of the project comprise 5,190 households in “Somaliland” and 1,445 households in Djibouti. New Technology Dissemination Platforms (TDPs) shall be formed within existing community-based organizations. Women shall be fully mainstreamed within activities, 1,100 of whom shall be engaged in income-generating activities. COVID-19 pandemic has affected Somaliland and the smooth implementation and follow up of activities have been negatively been impacted. The Government has put in place a series of restrictions in an effort to contain further spread of the virus, including limitation of social gatherings and in country travels suspension. To this end, in strict adherence to the established national safety and health guidelines for COVID-19 pandemic and do no harm principles towards staff and beneficiaries, the project management team has adopted a business continuity approach for its operations, in terms of both programming and field activities’ implementation. The project team is currently prioritizing activities that are mainly desk-based, remote follow up on phone using lead farmers and informants for extension services, teleconferences for meetings and rescheduling field-based activities. Key activities impacted are related to ongoing contract management for civil works, service providers’ delivery, and supply of goods. IFAD is exercising continuous and intensified remote supervision and implementation support to the project and we do hope that conditions will improve in the coming weeks to allow the team to return to full implementation.