Strategic Area:                          Sustainable Livelihoods

Alignment with strategic plan:     Poverty reduction and achievement of MDGs

Project Name:                           Shabelle Basin Flood Protection Project

Duration:                                 2007-2009

Project Summary:
The Shabelle Basin flood protection project supports local community initiatives to protect against the threat and effect of floods via Community Management Committees (CMCs).  Initiatives include emergency flood protection and rehabilitation of productive infrastructure through river embankment repairs; development of community flood early warning systems; rehabilitation of communal irrigation infrastructure; construction of river barrages and flood diversion channels, community training and capacity building; improvement of land drainage and road culverts; rehabilitation of community market shelters and grain storage facilities. The project spans the Shabelle Basin from Beletweyne in Hiran Region to the Middle Shabelle areas of Jowhar and Balad districts and is a joint venture between the respective local communities, regional administrations and UNDP.

 The overall objectives of the project include:
• Strengthening weak river embankments in order to reduce the effects of recurrent seasonal flooding along the Shabelle basin and thus reduce the displacement of people and destruction of productive assets and infrastructure
• Improving community access to markets and productive opportunities by supporting community initiatives in rural access road repairs, construction of community market centers and crop production
• Supporting community productive infrastructure (including floodwater diversion canals, secondary irrigation canals and construction of water catchment facilities), environmental conservation and  livelihood gains, including biogas demonstration plants and community agroforestry
• Strengthening community capacities in the mitigation of emergency disasters, management of local development initiatives and support to revenue generation for local governance
• Strengthening community capacities in conflict management, reintegration of IDPs and resettlement of local freelance militia.
 
Expected outputs of the project are:
• Equitable access to natural resource which leads to reduced resource based conflicts and tension among communities is minimized.
• Community capacities to respond and manage seasonal flood emergencies is strengthened and incidences of displacement and destruction from floods is minimized
• Productive opportunities for crop production is enhanced through improved irrigation infrastructure
• Established and functional local community markets that support farmers and pastoralists.
• Storage of water for human, livestock and crop production is increased and available during dry  season.

Implementation and achievements:
Project activities are implemented through local CMCs with oversight from the regional and local administration. UNDP provides strong technical oversight, training and capacity building and support to hardware inputs for the project. Significant gains have been made in the rehabilitation of three main river barrages in Beletweyne, Jowhar and Balad towns; strengthening of about 80 km length of weak river embankments; support to about 50 km of irrigation canals that provide seasonal water to about 40,000 hectares of irrigable land within Middle Shabelle and Hiran, training of 12 CMCs to operate and manage systems supported; the rehabilitation of 30 km road embankment and construction of 12 culvert bridges which began in November 2007 is now complete. The project is currently supporting the rehabilitation of the Sabuun canal and irrigation infrastructure which includes rehabilitation of 200 million cubic meter water reservoir in Jowhar and Balad districts.