Wells Projects Improve Water Access for Pastoralists in Agadez Region, Niger
The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) committed more than $700,000 this month to three well rehabilitation projects in the Agadez Region of Niger. These funds will reconstruct 21 water access points for more than 7,000 nomadic Peul and Tuareg people. USADF recognizes the urgent need for clean water access amongst pastoralist herders impacted by reoccurring drought, unpredictable rainfall and rising extremism in the West African nation.
The Agadez Region, located in the Sahara Desert, is one of the most arid places on the planet. Life centers around the oases and wells that supply water to sedentary populations, trans-Saharan traders crossing the desert in trucks or caravans, and the nomadic groups who move across an area known to reach temperatures more than 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
Water sites are remote, often separated by tracks of barren land where water is scarce. The region has less than half the amount of wells that local government officials have determined necessary to meet national standards for access to potable water. Damaged water wells have forced nomads to compensate by traveling even greater distances for water.
“We see well rehabilitation as a difficult but necessary job in northern Niger,” said USADF President and CEO Lloyd O. Pierson, who discussed the initiative with Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou this month in Washington, DC. “Improving access to water for their herds should help people to achieve better incomes which can translate into better access to medical care and education for their families.”
USADF made a quick response in Niger this year with over 35 wells targeted to be complete by 2013. USADF works to improve water access in the vast, sparsely populated nation where half of the population faced a food crisis last year. Current programming touches farther north in Niger to reach the most at-risk populations. USADF has been working in Niger since 1984 to cultivate local ideas and create tangible economic and social impact. The current portfolio includes economic development projects with onion traders, rural women’s unions and sesame producers. Niger is one of five Sahelian countries where USADF operates in West Africa.
SOURCE :United States African Development Foundation (USADF)
This article was originally posted on Sustainable Development Africa Platform
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