Enhancing Knowledge for Sustainable Access to Water and Sanitation in Tigray

Inadequate WASH infrastructure causes significant health threats to the people and negatively impacts economic growth, so the proper assessment of associated risks can create resilient systems that can withstand environmental challenges.

In response to that, UNOPS project team developed WASH Risk Assessment Tool, which can evaluate potential vulnerabilities within existing or planned infrastructure and help WASH planners and designers to identify risks related to technical, environmental and socio-economic factors.

To this effect, a workshop on risk assessment analysis in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector was organised in Mekelle, within the Government of Ethiopia's Response-Recovery-Resilience for Conflict Affected Communities in Ethiopia (3R4CACE) Project, which is financed by the World Bank and implemented by UNOPS.

The workshop that focused on the risk analysis as an essential element when planning WASH interventions contributed to enhancing the systematic and coherent knowledge and skills of 50 experts, officers and stakeholders working in planning, designing, building and running WASH infrastructures in Tigray.

A safe, continuous and sustainable access to clean water, adequate sanitation facilities, and proper hygiene are essential for preventing diseases, promoting health and ensuring well-being and the socio-economic development of communities. 

“Enhancing resilience is the starting point to ensure sustainability in a post-conflict environment like in Tigray. In a delicate phase like this, in which social expectations for development are high, UNOPS does not want to build sandcastles. We believe that mitigating risks and strengthening the sustainable planning of strategic infrastructures is essential for social and economic growth. Among these, we have focused on the hydraulic sector, which is key for guaranteeing water and energy, but also for reducing the risk of catastrophic events, like floods or dam breaks, which lead to unacceptable losses of human lives and unsustainable costs for the public budget. 

Risk assessment is a complex process which requires multi-sectoral coordination, technical-probabilistic analysis and social-economic evaluation. We believe that sparking this discussion at academic level can contribute to establishing resilience models in planning, designing and managing hydraulic infrastructures for the well-being of the population,” the UNOPS Project Executive for 3R4CACE Project, Eng. Rossella Monti (Ph.D.) said.

The workshop was an opportunity to galvanize commitments on risk mitigation and accelerate actions in multiple sectors related to WASH, which is also a key catalyst for a green, inclusive and resilient economic transition for the conflict-affected people of Tigray.

“The proper risk assessment can contribute to the sustainable WASH infrastructure in Tigray Region because all the involved players must be aware of what are the specific risks that can threaten the operational effectiveness of each single intervention, not just now as built but also in the future. So, proper measures can be implemented to control and reduce these risks. The actual effectiveness of these measures must be monitored, evaluated and maybe even adjusted during the operational lifetime of the interventions,” the UNOPS Lead Water Engineer Umberto Sanfilippo said.

The workshop was also used to officially mark the beginning of the implementation of the Resilience WASH Programme within the 3R4CACE Project. The Resilience programme complements the previous infrastructure rehabilitation, and it is composed of a series of actions tailored to ensure continuous, climate resilient and sustainable services for the population. The conducted risk analysis served as a driver in understanding the fragilities of the system, including aspects for planning, governance, social and infrastructure. 

The Response-Recovery-Resilience for Conflict Affected Communities in Ethiopia (3R4CACE) Project of the Government of Ethiopia financed by the World Bank with USD 300 million, aims to (i)rebuild and improve access to basic services and climate-resilient community infrastructure and (ii) improve access to multi-sectoral response services for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survivors in selected conflict-affected communities in Ethiopia.