Assessing seasonal water access and implications for livelihoods: A guidance note for Woreda officials.

Abstract

This Guidance Note is aimed primarily at woreda officials. It discusses the importance of understanding seasonal access to water at household level and the implications of changes in seasonal access to water for broader livelihoods. It also suggests ways to assess seasonal access to water in order that interventions can be designed to both mitigate disaster risk and respond to water stress in an effective and timely manner.

The Guidance Note focuses on basic elements of the Water Economy for Livelihoods (WELS) approach as a means to assess seasonal access to water. The approach has been rolled out across numerous woredas in SNNPR, Oromiya, and Somali regions in Ethiopia. It was designed to be integrated into Ethiopia’s current disaster risk management system within the Early Warning Department’s Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector (DRMFSS). The DRMFSS uses the Household Economy Approach (HEA) to identify food and livelihoods needs of populations affected by hazards and shocks in Ethiopia. WELS uses a similar analytical framework to account for and assess water and livelihoods needs for different socio-economic groups within populations.

Citation

Toolkit: Guidance on HWEA. 12 pp.

Assessing seasonal water access and implications for livelihoods: A guidance note for Woreda officials.

Published 1 January 2010