Jamhuuriyada Somaliland Republic of Somaliland

Wasaarada Horumarinta Ministry of Water Resources

Khayraadka Biyaha (WHKhB )- Development (MoWRD) -
Hargeysa Hargeisa

REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND

Ministry of Water Resources Development

Edited Draft (HA)

Water Sector Strategic Plan
5 Years
(2020 – 2024)

Drafted by Dr. Omar J. Diriye

Hargeisa, Somaliland
Forward

Acknowledgement

List of Abbreviations

CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 4

2. INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE ......................................................................................................... 4
1.1. Aims of the Water Sector Strategic Plan............................................................................................ 8
1.2 Vision, Mission and Key Strategic Objectives ..................................................................................... 9
1.2.1 Vision Statement .......................................................................................................................... 9
1.2.2 Mission Statement ....................................................................................................................... 9
1.2.3 Key Strategic Objectives............................................................................................................. 10
3. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS .......................................................................................... 11
3.1 Country Situation Analysis ................................................................................................................ 11
3.2 Sector Situation Analysis ................................................................................................................... 13
3.3 Political, Economic, Social and Technological (PEST) Analysis .......................................................... 17
3.4 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis ............................................. 20
3.5 Current Water Supply Coverage ....................................................................................................... 21
3.6 Impacts of floods and droughts on the Water Sector ...................................................................... 24
4.6. Water Demand Analysis ................................................................................................................. 24
5. SECTOR PLANNING AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS ...................................................................... 28
5.1 Planning Framework ......................................................................................................................... 28
5.2 Legal Framework ............................................................................................................................... 33
5.2.1 National Water Act 2011 ........................................................................................................... 35
5.3 Water Service Delivery Modalities .................................................................................................... 36
6. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER SECTOR STRATEGIC PLAN .............................................................. 38

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 6.1 Key Strategic Objectives.................................................................................................................... 38
6.2 Frame of Implementation ................................................................................................................. 38
6.3 Implementation Strategies ............................................................................................................... 52
6.4 Risk Analysis and Contingency Plans ................................................................................................. 53
6.5 Sector Coordination and Governance............................................................................................... 58
6.6 Crosscutting Issues ............................................................................................................................ 59
6.7 Assumptions ...................................................................................................................................... 60
6.8 Implementation Monitoring and Reporting ..................................................................................... 60

List of Figures and Tables

Table 1: Population distribution by gender, age and lifestyle (2016) ........................................................... 4

Table 2: PEST Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 17
Table 3: SWOT Analyis ................................................................................................................................ 20
Table 4: Urban water consumption categories for baseline and high growth scenarios ........................... 27
Table 5: Outcome 1 for SDG 6 under the NDP II ....................................................................................... 29
Table 6: Annual coverage rate increase required to meet SDG-6 by 2030................................................ 29
Table 7: WASH Prioritized Outcomes in NDPII............................................................................................ 30
Table 8: Various sources of laws governing the water sector .................................................................... 33
Table 9: Current urban water supply arrangements..................................................................................... 37
Table 10: Implementation Framework ....................................................................................................... 39
Table 11: Sector Risk Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 54

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 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2. INTRODUCTION, RATIONALE AND AIMS

2.1 Introduction

The Republic of Somaliland is a sovereign, democratic State in the Horn of Africa, sharing its borders with
Djibouti to the West, Ethiopia to the South, Somalia to the East and the Gulf of Aden to the North.
Somaliland has a coastline of 850,800 km. Somaliland lies between the latitudes of 8’ North and 11’ 27’’
North; and the longitudes of 420 35’ and 490 East.

It encompasses the territory of the former British Protectorate of Somaliland whose borders were
established by international treaties between 1888 and 1897. Somaliland achieved its full independence
from the United Kingdom on 26 June 1960, becoming the 15th African Country to do so. It voluntarily
entered a union with Somalia in July 1960. However, following a civil war and the collapse of Somalia, it
withdrew from the union and reclaimed its independence on 18 May 1991.

Since declaring its independence in 1991, Somaliland has overcome a legacy of conflict and civil war to
secure peace and stability within its borders. It is a thriving and durable democratic society with a multi-
party system. It holds regular elections and has witnessed multiple peaceful transfers of power. The most
successful elections were held in 2002 and 2012 (for local government), 2003 and 2010 (for president), and
2005 (for the lower house of parliament).

The total land area of Somaliland is 137,600 square kilo meters (source: Somaliland in Figures of MoNPD
2016) and an estimated population of 3.5 million inhabitants with an annual growth rate of 3.14%.

The population of Somaliland is currently undergoing rapid urbanization. Less than 20% of population was
living in urban locations in 1975 and 55% live in the urban by 2016, and half of Somaliland’s population
now lives in the six regional capitals. The distribution of the population by age, gender and lifestyle is show
in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Population distribution by gender, age and lifestyle (2016)

Category 2016 data

Gender
Male 1,938,000 (51%)
Female 1,884,000 (49%)

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 Total 3,822,000
Age distribution
0-10 30.7%
11-20 27.0%
20-60 39.2%
0ver 60 3.2%
Lifestyle
Urban 54%
Rural 46%
Source: Somaliland in Figures (MoPND, 2016)

Lack of international recognition as independent state remains an obstacle to Somaliland in dealing with
socioeconomic problems, attracting foreign aid and investment, which puts the GoSL at risk in times of
natural disasters and droughts as well as severely limiting opportunities for economic development. Despite
the many obstacles, it has managed to create a de-facto independent country with a functioning democracy
and a growing private sector economy.

Somaliland is divided into arid regions where the annual rainfall is between 50 mm/year to 250 mm/year,
semi-arid regions where the annual rainfall varies between 250 mm/year to 500 mm/year and some desert
regions along the coast where the annual rainfall is below 50 mm/year.

The climate of Somaliland is determined by its location as part of the Horn of Africa, by the interaction
with the atmosphere, especially the movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and by the
topography, which results in pronounced differences in the climate with altitude and between the coastal
plains, the mountainous ridges and the plateaus.

Rainfall and the reliability of climate dictate the water resource availability of Somaliland. There are no
significant transboundary flows of water into Somaliland and there are no permanent (perennial) surface
water courses or lakes, the appearance of surface water runoff is limited to a few flood water events in each
of the two rain seasons. Therefore, groundwater is presently the most reliable source of water which enables
permanent human settlement and development.

Topographically, Somaliland is divided into four drainage basins as shown in Figure 1:

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Figure 1: Main drainage basins of Somaliland

Water sources available in the four basins are different depending on the rainfall received annually,
infiltration of water quantities, shallow and deep aquifer capacity and their different geological
formations.

The National Water Sector Strategy is the principle guidance of strategies as it establishes a framework for
the development and management of water resources of Somaliland on a cost-effective, efficient, equitable
and sustainable basis. The linkage of this strategic plan to the National Water Strategy sets out the
approaches and modalities for implementation of the strategic plan and other relevant sector policies and
regulations.

This plan also presents an opportunity a line the national water sector development with the global WASH
development agenda specifically the Sustainable Development Goal 6 which aims to achieve universal,
sustainable and equitable access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. Whilst also ensure
that strategic plans are developed in compliance to the UNICEF WASH strategy for Water (2016-2030)
that provides a framework to guide the sector over the next 15 years.

The strategic plan is designed to streamline institutional roles in the water sector pursuant to the execution
of the National Water Act 2017 (Law No. 49). The Act mandates that the Ministry of Water Resources
Development is solely responsible for the development and management of the national water resources in
Somaliland.

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The Strategic Plan also aims to take into consideration the impacts of climatic changes that have resulted
in recurrent and server droughts which devastated lives and livelihoods in Somaliland over the past seven
years, thus the plan provides a strategic tool to devise a comprehensive mechanism for stronger drought
resilience in Somaliland to consider and reintroduce an effective approach that can drive strategic directions
of the national WASH sector.

1) Improvement of regulatory framework and oversight of water sector and sustainable management,
2) Strengthening capacity of MoWRD and its constituent bodies,
3) Effective coordination and information management of the sector
4) Converting floods from forces of disaster into a valuable catalyst for sustainable livelihoods through
the utilization of water irrigation schemes
5) Mitigation of droughts and impacts of climatic changes
6) To promote national watershed management and rainwater harvesting management in line with
universal principles of Integrated Watershed Management (IWM.)

The Water Sector is crucial to Somaliland’s development; be it for production, wealth and prosperity.
Stakeholders from private sector, civil society and government are active in the sector. The Ministry of
Water Resource Development (MoWRD) is the lead agency of the WASH sector.

The Ministry of Water Resources Development is established to develop, protect and manage national water
resources in a sustainable manner and ensure accessibility of water for all with the consideration needs of
relevant sectors such as Health, Agriculture, Education, Livestock, Energy and Environment.

The Second National Development Plan 2017-2021 (NDP II) was developed to guide Somaliland’s
development for the next five years with the aspirations of The Somaliland National Vision 2030: A Stable,
Democratic and Prosperous Country Where People Enjoy a High Quality of Life. The NDPII has produced
for the first time a result-based management framework, which defines Sector Outcomes and Outcome
indicators, baseline values and targets which are linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which are seventeen in total.

After the development of NDP II, the Ministry was engaged in sector prioritization exercise to identify most
crucial targets to be focused. From that exercise, the Ministry required to develop detailed Water Sector
Strategic Plan. .

The Strategic Plan translates priorities and outcome of WASH Sector in NDP II into more detailed and
implementable interventions. The significant instrument that will put NDP II into actions and it will lead
the Government of Somaliland (GoSL) and its development partners to mobilize resources and rationalize
priorities and needs whilst enabling them to strategically bridge financial gaps. It will support the
coordination and accountability and ultimately contribute to the attainment of the international principles
of development aid and national resource effectiveness.

This WSSP was developed through a participatory and a comprehensive advice-giving process lead by a
multidisciplinary team of both internal and external expert supporting the Department of Planning,
Coordination and Statistics of MoWRD. The process involved a sequence of consultations and meetings

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with key stakeholders at central, regional and district levels with a view to ensure wide spread representative
input and WASH stakeholder contribution in order to develop a robust and relevant WSSP.

The process involved a desktop review and evaluation of all current and previous WASH sector national
plans, regulations and legal acts and policies as well as review of international experience that were deemed
comparative to the circumstances in Somaliland. Further to this strategic inputs and validation of the WSSP
was held with all the WASH sector UN agencies, International and Local WASH and water infrastructure
development and service delivery agencies working in Somaliland. Moreover consultation meetings were
held with national water agencies including Hargeisa, Burao, Berbera and Borama (SHABA PPP) Water
Agencies to identify their strategic priority development needs which were incorporated in the Strategic
Plan.

The Strategic Plan is complementary to the newly developed National Water Resources Management and
Investment Plan (NWRMIP) which provided vital information and guidance on the experiences and
successes of the implementation of the planned activities, targets and the challenges met. The National
Water Resources Management and Investment Plan (NWRMIP) provides an integrated water resources
management plan, including investment options for the 30-year period from 2020 to 2050, with priority
structural and non-structural project investments identified and designed to conceptual level for the period
2030 to 2040. However, the Strategic Plan provides target priorities and key interventions to be
implemented for the period 2020 – 2024.

2.2 Purpose of the Water Sector Strategic Plan

The purpose of the Water Sector Strategic Plan (WSSP) is to provide a framework for the overall
development of the WASH sector with clear vision, mission and key strategic objectives for the sector for
five years (2020-2024). The WSSP aims to provide guidance in the planning, coordination and development
and management of the water resources of Somaliland on a cost-effective, efficient, equitable and
sustainable basis with the overarching aim of provide adequate, safe and affordable water to urban and rural
communities in Somaliland.

The Ministry of Water Resources Development prepared this Strategic Plan to facilitate the following
strategic aims:

1. Increased resources are made available to ensure greater and more equitable access of water supply
for the people of Somaliland.
2. Identify and propose water supply projects/systems which are effective, appropriate, and
sustainable for Somaliland based on proven practices in the country and elsewhere.
3. Identify and propose appropriate, sustainable and effective water systems technology for locations
in the country with high levels of salinity; and drought prone locations with poor aquifers.
4. Identify and propose appropriate Operations and Maintenance (O&M) mechanisms that should be
in place to ensure that all the water systems are managed in a sustainable and effective manner.
5. Propose appropriate institutional capacity building for the Ministry of Water Resources to facilitate
the Ministry to be responsive and effective in meeting the targets of the strategic plan.

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 6. Propose mechanisms that need to be put in place to ensure effective sector coordination and greater
cooperation and working partnerships within the sector in manner that creates synergy, leveraging
of available resources and avoids duplication of activities
7. Develop a costed investment strategic plan for 5 years for the sector.
8. Develop clear objectives and measurable targets for the water sector for 5 years.
9. Develop results based monitoring and evaluation framework for Water Sector with clear indicators
for outputs, outcomes and impact generated for each activity.

2.3 Vision, Mission and Key Strategic Objectives

2.3.1 Vision Statement

To create a secured, sustainable national water resource in which citizen have to access to clean, adequate
and affordable water with effective sanitation and hygiene standards in a sustainable and environmentally
friendly manner.

2.3.2 Mission Statement

Improve availability and access to water in sustainable and equitable way for all different uses, in a manner
that is environmentally safe and in line with the Millennium Development Goals.

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 2.3.3 Key Strategic Objectives

1. To develop water Irrigation channels /rangeland schemes

2. To develop portable water supply and sanitation facilities in the country.
3. To develop sustainable underground water and surface water harvesting resources in urban and
rural settlements.
4. To develop adequate sustainable water supply systems for rural, pre-urban, urban cities and towns
5. To provide adequate, safe and affordable water to urban and pre-urban (23 districts) in Somaliland.
6. .To develop adequate sustainable water supply for livestock and agricultural farming sectors which
are economic back bone of Somaliland.
7. To increase the capacity of national water sector institutions to effectively manage and develop
water resources though enhancement of internal human resource skills, expertise, technical systems
and institutional resources
8. To improve water governance and sustainable management with the development and
reinforcement of water sector regulatory frameworks.
9. To build institutional and technical capacity for better service delivery and effective coordination,
information management and quality assurance.
10. To develop drought mitigation programs to improve resilience of national water resources to
climatic and environmental changes.
11. To increase equitable access to sustainable hygiene and sanitation services through integrating with
water resources development.
12. To undertake a full hydro-geological study of the four different aquifer basins identified in the
NERAS underground water study to further explore the full underground water resource potential
of each of the Basins

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3. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS
3.1 Country Analysis

Somaliland become the highest maternal mortality rates country in the world of 1,000 – 1,400 maternal
deaths per 100,000 live births (2012 UNICEF 2012), with an infant mortality rate of 73 per 1,000 births
and an under-five mortality of around 117 per 1,000 births.

Somaliland has benefitted greatly from efforts to improve its education programs. School gross enrolment
has increased from 39 percent in 2006 to over 60 percent in 2010 (SomalilandPress 2011c). Since 2001,
primary school net enrolment has increased from 23 to 49 percent, while the proportion of students who
stay in school from first to eighth grade jumped from 50 to 96 percent (UNDP 2010).

By 2015, there were a total of 1,083 schools (public and private) with 7,586 teachers and 105,292 female
pupils and 234,128 male pupils in Somaliland. This is a significant increase since year 2000 when there
were only 222 schools in the country with some 68,000 pupils in total.

The urban literacy rate was 60% and rural literacy rate 42%. Around 45% of primary aged children attended
school and in urban areas around 22% secondary school, whereas in rural areas some 18% attended
secondary school. In 2015 some 5,538 students graduated from the 16 universities in Somaliland; by far the
most popular professions were civil engineering, IT, business studies and public health.

Somaliland has an overall unemployment rate of a little less than 50%, with 60% unemployment in urban
areas and 40% in rural areas. Youth unemployment stands at 75%. The government of Somaliland is the
largest employer in the country with over 10,000 employees. Somaliland ranks amongst the poorest
countries in the world and has a number of vulnerable population clusters.

Some 30% of the GDP of Somaliland, which was USD 347 per capita in 2014 (World Bank figures), arises
through remittances from the diaspora – an important and significant statement of the commitment of the
present generation to rebuild their country. An additional 30% is generated from the livestock sector – and
it is estimated that 65% of the population depend upon this sector for their livelihoods. Less than 2% of the
country’s land area is cultivated and only 54 km2 (5,400 ha) are under irrigation – hence over 90% of
foodstuffs are imported produce and can be considered to be a virtual water import. Most sources agree that
the maximum available agricultural land is less than 10% of the entire area of Somaliland.

Administratively, Somaliland is divided into 6 Regions and 23 Districts as shown in Figure 2.

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 Figure 2Administrative regions and districts of Somaliland (2018)

The composition of the GDP, excluding remittances, is shown in Table 2:

Table 2: GDP by production activity (2016)

Value added Value added

Sectors
(USD million) (%)
Livestock 443.1 28.4
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of
341.7 21.9
motor vehicles
Real estate activities 117.8 7.6
Growing of crops 109.8 7.0
Forestry 71.9 4.6
Education 50.7 3.3
Accommodation and food service
47.5 3.1
activities
Public administration and defence 46.7 3.0
Manufacturing of food and beverages 18.9 1.2
Mining and quarrying 18.7 1.2
Energy 16.2 1.0
Finance 4.5 0.3
Water supply, sewerage, waste
4.3 0.3
management
All other sectors 166.7 10.7

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 Taxes and subsidies on products 100.0 6.4
Total GDP at purchasers prices 1,558.4 100.0
Source: Somaliland in Figures (MoPND, 2016)

Somaliland has abundant energy resources, especially wind, solar, fossil fuels and other renewable
resources, yet there is widespread energy poverty throughout the country. Main electricity sources are
imported petroleum and the cost of electricity is frequently above USD 0.8/kWh which has been limited
mainly to urban and semi-urban areas.This is a significant challenge on the economic development of the
country.

According to the Somaliland 2011 Polling Survey, which was conducted by IRI4 and DARS5, 57% of the
households live under US$1 per person per day and 25% of the active age populations who are willing to
work are unemployed.

3.2 General overview of water resources

3.2.1 Challenges

Somaliland has a semi-arid climate where water availability is very scarce and less than half of the
population has no access to clean water. Daily water consumption per person is well below international
standards for healthy living. The national water coverage rate was estimated at 42% to 60% for the urban
population based on data from national public and private water utility providers (2016) whereas in rural
communities 24% to 50% were taken as ‘grand’ averages population receiving basic water supply based
on user surveys conducted by the MoWRD & WASH services implementation partners in 2016. Given the
different means of measuring the coverage rates, there is no disagreement between the two rates and the
Somaliland governments is on track to achieving the NDPII target (78%) for use of safe water the
Sustainable Development Goal, SDG-6, and the attainment of water coverage for all as an overarching goal
– however it aims to realize that target by 2050 rather than 2030. This is because the present capacity (in
terms of skills, equipment and systems) as well as the amount of work to be done and the finance needed
to do it is beyond what would be reasonably feasible within the first decade. The priority projects planned
for development over the next years lay the foundation to achieve SDG-4 by 2050. Given Somaliland’s
development trajectory and the significance of its rate of urbanization, investing in reliable and safe
drinking water systems for the bulk (75%) of the population that will be living in urban areas in the future
stands out clearly as a major consideration. In broad terms and given the absence of perennial surface water
flows, groundwater must be managed more efficiently and sustainable.

Undoubtedly, Somaliland’s water resources situation faces many challenges of which some can be
summarize as follows; The global warming and climate change hazards, which are witnessed as

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unpredictable and sporadic rainfall occurrences with shorter, but heavier, rainfall events/periods, and longer
dry spells, which now regularly translate into prolonged drought periods, in addition to the higher evapo-
transpiration rates resulting in increased irrigation water demands in Somaliland.

Moreover at the institutional there is limited expert knowledge of appropriate technologies to increase
rainwater harvesting at various levels from the family/household level through a range of options up to
constructing larger dams. Similarly there is limited expertise to mitigate the flash flooding occurrences in
connection with heavy rainfall events are not only a threat to the life of human and livestock, but also
exacerbate soil erosion, siltation of dams and deteriorate water quality or adequate expertise to provide
viable water treatment solution to deal with the prevalence of brackish and salty groundwater in parts of
the most water stressed regions of the country which hinders its use for intended purposes.

The environmental challenges concerns experienced in Somaliland include deforestation resulting from
charcoal production which fosters unhindered overland runoff and soil erosion/land degradation also
nurturing flash-flood conditions. Also heavy urbanization and agricultural intensification with use of
pesticides and herbicides which challenge the availability and accessibility of fresh (unpolluted) water. In
sufficient waste management regulation resulting in the dumping of solid waste in upstream sections of
water catchments (a case in point is the location of Hargeisa’s dumping site) and Improper location of
certain industries, e.g. the chrome tanning industry of LaasGeel, which has adverse impact on the whole
ecosystem of the area.

The Institutional challenges face by the WASH sector include limited capacity of the Water Technology
Institute which current only has the capacity and resources to training electro-mechanics and pumpers thus
resulting in inadequate human resource of the WASH sector to services the huge national needs. Also other
critical challenges include high turnover of decision makers within government WASH stakeholders, poor
use of information and technology to guide development and interventions at the planning stage as well as
limited resources or skills to implement waste management and strategic plans or policies developed for
waste management or strategic fundraising policies to proactively attract donor support to meet growing
developmental needs of the WASH sector. The sanitation indicator shows similar disparities: only 26
percent of household members in rural areas use an improved sanitation facility, while in urban areas 87
percent use an improved facility. Overall, 58 percent of households use an improved sanitation facility.
Thus increased regulation and oversight of quality water provision and pricing tariffs are sector priorities.
Whereas a preferred service delivery models need to be identified for rural and urban areas to improve
sustainability and standardize the approach to the delivery of water services

Droughts are frequent in Somaliland as a direct result of low rainfall, and with no permanent surface water
sources acting as a buffer. Severe and widespread droughts were experienced in 1973-1974, 1984, 1991,
2010-2011 and 2016-2017; frequent less severe droughts occur regularly. Drought has a major impact upon
economy and society, for example some 60% of livestock was reported lost in the prolonged drought of
2016-2018. The two short rainy seasons of Gu and Dayr (Spring and Autumn respectively & 3 months
apiece) are sporadic and occasionally flood out but an estimated 90% of those floods end to the sea or they
are wasted through evaporation and/or infiltration.

According to the drought declaration report from Somaliland’s National Disaster Preparedness and Food
Reserve Authority (NADFOR (January 29, 2019), prolonged droughts with acute water shortage affected
around 1.7 million people in all regions of Somaliland. The acute water shortage resulted over use, and

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increased break down rates of water sources as well as deteriorated quality of water. The situation of water
is further being worsened by poor sustainable management and improper operation and maintenance. As
UNOCHA Drought Response Plan Report (May 2019) indicates that the most drought affected regions in
Somaliland are Sanaag, Sool and part of Togdheer and coastal areas, where the severity of water shortage
has been growing and getting worse for recent years.

It is estimated that over 78% of the rural populations, those who mostly impacted by recent droughts (2017
-2018), do not have access to safe drinking water in Somaliland. Impacts of droughts are felt among the
urban and pastoral populations in all regions. An estimated 1 million people have been affected by recent
drought while about 60% of their livestock were lost. This further increased number IDPs communities
who settled slum and temporary camps within or around urban and rural villages. The IDPs and their hosting
communities in the urban and pre-urban places have been facing an acute water shortage as the existed
water sources remained under over uses, and their break down rates increased as well as quality of water
supply deteriorated. The situation of water is further being worsened by poor sustainable management and
improper operation and maintenance in both urban and rural places.

The country’s lack of natural lakes or permanent rivers limits the ability to provide bulk water supply
solutions particular in major cities and urban towns also places reduces economic productivity of the
growing agro farming communities this can be mitigated by utilization of rain water harvesting and water
irrigation catchment methods which have great potential to provide sustainable solution urban and rural
pastoralist and agro-farming communities during the two rainy seasons. Therefore the government has now
made rain water harvesting infrastructure development as the top priority over the next five years. The
ministry of water aims is to move away from the current dependency on limited underground water source
as the only means of supply particularly in urban areas which is costly to operate and significantly reduces
the ability of water utilities and service providers to recover capital invest and daily operational running
costs. Particular as the existing water sources in urban towns are proving to be more and more inadequate
and unable to meet the demands of the intensifying pressures due to increasing population, urbanization,
irrigated farming and industrial activities.

3.2.2 Opportunities

In the last two decades Somaliland has engaged in a reform process in the WASH Sector, as illustrated by
the implementation of a National Water Policy, Strategy and the National Water Act. However, further
efforts are required to complete this reform. Policy and regulation functions are not yet clearly defined in
the sector and the MoWRD still retains a considerable and very wide-ranging responsibility. Combined
with a certain lack of capacity, it results in insufficient and inadequate implementation of policy and service
delivery standards. Therefore the development of a national water regulation policy is pivotal to achieving
development and sustainable management objectives.

There is broad consensus for a collective impact approach among key sector stakeholders. Indeed, the most
influential stakeholders are willing to rally behind a WSSP on condition that government demonstrates
strong and capable leadership capacity in the areas of strategic direction, financing and coordination. A
detailed LOA and MOU providing guidance on WASH service delivery code of conduct to ensure

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transparency and accountability is signed annually by key stakeholders and private water utilities providers.
However no such agreements currently are in practice for public water utilities or community managed
water supply services resulting in laps of oversight in services delivered.

Various arrangements of water service delivery are more or less successfully in use; this includes both
public management as well as PPP arrangements. The latter were identified in Somaliland as promising and
thus promoted. PPP seem to be relatively successful in some cases; the weaknesses of the PPP regulatory
framework often leads to unbalanced relationships between the public and private sector, resulting in little
responsibility or incentive for the private sector to invest in infrastructure expansion, develop new water
resources to meet demand, or supply water to poorer sections of society.

The ministry has prioritized building the administrative and technical capacity of the staff at the central,
regional, district levels and in public water utilities among its core objective as the inadequacy to remunerate
and thus retain its staff due to lack of development opportunities and low government wages has been
sighted as a major weakness in assessment studies undertaken in the development of the NDPII. Thus the
WASH service delivery staff would benefit from in-service and external training to enable MoWRD to
fulfill its mandate under the National Water Act and deliver its role as custodian of the nation’s water
resources, providing an enabling environment for the management, regulation and development of the
resource on behalf of the people. Also the government new national service internship program launched
in 2019 aims to address graduate youth unemployment and provide much needed new blood to fill the
human resource needs of the WASH sector institutions to sufficiently to meet service development
requirements and better management demand. Unfortunately the absence of expert level qualifications in
the WASH and water engineering faculties at the university level remains another pressing challenge which
must be addressed urgently in collaborative partnership with international water technology institutes with
the resource support from the donor community.

The ministry has however successfully established a water technology technical institute offering
professional vocational qualifications in pumping, O&M electro mechanics and solar installations annually
graduating 60 water technicians which are then deployed at public water utilities and at urban / rural water
supply systems around the country this has contributed to building technical capacity at the decentralized
level and significantly reduced break down and or downtimes at those remote water supply services.
Moreover the increased availability of regional and district level water technicians trained at the national
water technology institute and the parallel constructions and equipping of regional repair and maintenance
and supply storage centers by the MOWRD supported by care international and funded UNICEF and AFDB
will accelerate decentralization of water supply infrastructure O&M in urban and regional utilities or
services as well as decentralizing procurement, supplies warehousing and distributing basic fittings, pipes
and spare parts machines and or engine parts which are currently managed at the central level often resulting
delays in routine O&M and high prevalence of non-revenue water (NRW) in water utilities.

There are five publically managed water utility providers currently located in the main regional cities of
Hargeisa, Gabiley, Arabyiso, Berbera and Burco and two PPP water utilizes in Borama and Erigavo. The
utilities generally run well considering current capacity and resources availed, presently are able to sustain
the cost operations with surplus income revenues, despite the extensive challenges faced by the water
utilities which include lack of updated ICT, finance and internal control systems and lack of CRM
management systems with only four utilities having proper billing system software. Also none of the

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utilities currently have repair and maintenance log software management systems or customer enquiry /
complaint system which hamper income revenue, cost control and overall management. Therefore result
in poor business, service development and result in substantial losses in None Revenue Water and slow
billing collections. Further to this the only water source in all the utilities is boreholes which are powered
by heavy duty diesel generators that are very costly operate and maintain often breaking down due to lack
of backup power systems or working extensive operational hours to meet huge water supply demands the
burden of fuel and repair costs accounts for 40% gross expenditure of the water utilities. The same challenge
is also experienced urban and rural water supply providers managed by local community boards again the
burden of the costs often becoming unaffordable to operate continuously in low income agro-pastoralist
communities or thus resulting water supply cuts to the village or towns. In addition to this limited O&M
budgets are currently allocated for new water infrastructure developed at the planning stage which is
stretching the government and WASH sector partners limited resources hence according to latest
government studies of national water infrastructure 40% of existing water supply systems were found to
be un-operational.

In order to mitigate this challenge the ministry of water and the WASH implementation partners are now
installing solar power systems on all existing and new water infrastructures however the progress of this
work is slow due to resource limitation and the enormity of the task which is requires substantial investment
to ensure all national water infrastructure systems are affordable and sustainable.

To alleviate water shortages, the MoWRD has been exercising endless efforts, in collaboration with UN
agencies and NGOs, to rehabilitate and construct number of water resources to exploit surface and
groundwater to increase the water availability. Still access to safe and adequate water to urban and rural
communities most remains elusive and need for water is nation’s highest priority.

Rainwater harvesting technology is not developed and its one of the crucial priorities as observations in all
regions show that rainwater-harvesting structures are not integrated into the development of water
infrastructure. Roof water catchments are not applied in the urban locations due to lack of awareness of
the importance and availability of rain water plus the factors of limited reliability of seasonal rainfall, the
quality of roofing materials and limited rainwater technologies.

3.3 Political, Economic, Social and Technological (PEST) Analysis

To do in-depth study of water sector context, the Ministry carried out Political, Economic, Social and
Technological (PEST) analysis. The PEST analysis identified crucial factors that have significant positive
or negative impact on this Water Sector Strategic Plan as listed in the table below:

Table 2: PEST Analysis

Category Opportunity Challenge
Political To be added • Lack of recognition hinders
investment of water sector

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 • Somaliland government
failed to allocate not more
than 3% of WASH sector
• Frequent reshuffle of
government senior officials
result poor political
leadership and governance;
• Conflict of institutional roles
in water sector is common
• Lack of access to bilateral
donations
• Good governance of water
leads to sustainability
• Strong commitment of
Ministry leaders
• Peace and stability

Economical To be added
• Lack of water for agricultural
productivity
• poorly developed domestic
market structures, low
savings and investment,
heavy debt burden and
underdeveloped
infrastructure, and high
population growth rates
(more than 3%) and high
urbanization;
• High youth unemployment;
• Inadequate state investment
in the water sector
• Frequent droughts eroded
livestock
• Very low usage of arable
land due to lack of water
supply
• Lack of direct foreign
investments and donor
assistance;
• Inadequate/poor
infrastructure of water
sources
• Very high cost of water
infrastructure development
Social To be added • Increased IDPs communities
after lost their livestock in
rural locations

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 • High vulnerability to
climatic changes affected
people’s livelihoods
• Increased population coming
to the urban towns
• Frequency of community
conflicts and clans fighting
due to the competition to
water resources and pasture
• Rural-Urban migration that
depletes productive work
force in rural areas, while
exacerbating socio-economic
problems in cities (creation
of informal settlements)
• Poor community capacity to
mitigate droughts and
maintain water sources
• Increased number of break
down rates of water facilities
• Inadequate basic social
services coverage in all
regions specifically drought
prone locations
• Limited clean water for
schools and health centers
Technological To be added • Limited machineries of water
engineering
• Very expensive water
drilling
• Lack of skills to harvest rain
and mitigate droughts
• Lack of information
management technologies to
study, design and record
water issues
• Limited alternative energy
sources for water (wind and
solar)
• Limited techniques and
equipment for water
desalination
• Comprehensive study in
water resources & data
collection should have to be
prioritized.
• Limited access to improved
and/or promising
technologies and innovations
in the other countries ;

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 • Low capacity building to
ministry staffs

3.4 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis

The Ministry of Water Resources Development analyzed its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats (SWOT) which resulted in understanding of external and internal factors contributing to the
development of the strategic plan. SWOT matrix for water sector strategic plan is presented in Table 3.

Table 3: SWOT Analysis

Strengthens Weakness

▪ Pursuant to the Somaliland Water Act ▪ Limited technical experts

2010 (Law No. 49), Ministry of Water ▪ Conflicts and boarder disputes between
Resources Development is solely Somaliland and some Somalia member
responsible for the national water states, which creates tension in the region
resources development and management as a whole and undermines development
and its mandated to act on behalf of progress
Government of Somaliland in all matters ▪ High degree of variability in space and
relating to the Water Resources. time of rainfall patterns;
▪ Somaliland has various high potential ▪ Very high demand of water for drinking
water catchments, wadis and basins those and irrigation purposes
can provide enough water supply if ▪ Limited data and information for water
harvested sector management and development
▪ Ministry is responsible for the ▪ Insufficient investment in technology and
coordination of WASH sector partners and research, as well as a lack of appropriate
donors expertise;
▪ Somaliland is located in the horn of Africa ▪ Poor WASH sector coordination
which is considered one of the resource (overlapping, no standard).
rich regions in the African Continent; ▪ There is no standard approach to mobilize
▪ Ministry developed number of water community (each Organization has its own
sector regulatory documents such as water approach).
act, water policy, water regulation and ▪ Limited equipment and material for water
national water strategy development.
▪ Ministry established Water Technology ▪ Poor sustainability for water infrastructure
Institute which is functioning well with (in terms of skill and structure)
the potential to fulfill a huge role in terms ▪ Inadequate and delayed funding from
capacity building of WASH human development partners has constrained
resources development effective implementation of
▪ Established partnership with few funding programmes/projects;
partners including SDF, AFDB, WB, EU, ▪ Lack of harmonization of national
GIZ and EC regulatory documents

Opportunities Threats

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 ▪ Number of potential funding development ▪ Conflict of statehood between Somalia and
partners Somaliland affect the funding channels to
▪ Improving access to rainwater from source water sector
sources of disaster into livelihoods ▪ The region’s high vulnerability to climatic
Availability of rainwater that can be variations characterized by frequent dry
harvested Availability of underground spells, droughts and floods, land
water resources degradation, low productivity, poorly
▪ improved intra-state communications and developed domestic
the potential to leverage economic growth ▪ Seasonal floods are sources of disaster,
▪ Government is willing to develop water drought, climate change, population influx
sector as it labeled as the first priority ▪ Increased water demand due to rising
▪ Somaliland is very stable and democratic temperatures associated with climate
country which may attract investors change.
▪ Conflict of roles, responsibilities and
mandates within government ministry’s
despite the clear mandate given under the
national water Act, which also hinders
development of WASH programs and
infrastructure development
▪ Limited financial capacity of the
government restricts development of water
sector
▪ Inter-clan conflicts on water sources
economic crises and climate change

3.5 Current Water Supply Coverage

Boreholes

Groundwater has been the predominant means to serve the population of Somaliland. The borehole database
has 389 borehole records of which some 30% are not functioning for a variety of reasons. The distribution
between rural, urban, private boreholes as well as the ratios on functionality and water quality are given the
boreholes are usually equipped with submersible electric pumps providing water to a basic infrastructure
including a storage tank at the source itself which feeds a basic reticulation system. In the case of urban
centers where water supply agencies exist, water is pumped to storage and distributed through reticulation
systems to households and kiosks. No treatment of water has been introduced except in a few cases where
chlorination is introduced.

Shallow wells

Undoubtedly shallow wells are important sources of domestic water for both the urban and rural population.
Somaliland Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM) made an inventory of the shallow wells

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in 2008 and recorded 623 shallow wells. In the mountainous regions of Somaliland, the water table is
generally shallower than on the plateau, hence there are more shallow wells. It is rare to find shallow wells
on the plateau. 15% to 20% of the shallow wells are fitted with either hand pumps; generator based
centrifugal pumps connected to hoses or solar-powered pumps supplying storage tanks, leaving the vast
majority of the shallow wells using bucket lifting. Water from shallow wells is also used for livestock and
small-scale irrigation.

Spring collection systems

The spring database now contains 127 springs and is based on the SWALIM database and as updated. The
vast majority of the springs are perennial, although the yield in many cases is markedly seasonal. People
and their livestock use the spring water directly from source, which increases the risks of water
contamination. Only a few springs have been properly developed and protected. Additionally, the brackish
water quality of a number the springs is a concern. From the database it can be seen that 60% of the springs
are below 2,000 µS/cm, 15% are between 2,000 and 3,000 µS/cm and 25% are above 3,000 µS/cm.One of
the larger spring systems, the Dubar spring supplies water to Berbera, though the salinity over the past years
has increased to a level whereby it may be required to be de-commissioned as a source of domestic water
supply. The spring consists of 13 spring eyes that are protected. The reported flow is between 35 m3/day
and 50 m3/day, but no flow rates are routinely measured or recorded.

Larger dams

The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) defines a large dam as “A dam with a height of 15
meters or greater from lowest foundation to crest or a dam between 5 meters and 15 meters impounding
more than 3 million cubic meters”. According to this definition only one larger concrete dam has been
constructed in Somaliland in recent times, Humbowenye Dam, some 30 km from Hargeisa. It was
commissioned in March 2017 meant to serve local irrigation schemes and livestock. Unfortunately, the dam
silted up in the first year of operation, underscoring the fact that proper sediment transport and related
technical feasibility studies need to be undertaken coupled with initiation of catchment protection measures
to abate the high erosion rate and siltation conditions prevailing in the midstream channels of the wadi
drainage systems. However, topographic features and hydrological conditions enabling the sitting of further
larger dams exist in a number of areas in Somaliland.

Haffirs

Where appropriate sitting conditions exist for storage a “Hafir” can be excavated in the ground and
constructed in such a way that it collects and stores water directly from surface runoff or by diverting water
from the wadi drainage channels. The excavated top material is often then used to create embankments
around the structure to increase the volume and protect the structure from being flooded. Hafirs are usually
rectangular in shape and examples constructed in Somaliland usually have capacities between 5,000 and
20,000 m3 but some larger ones do exist. The water from Hafirs is often abstracted from shallow wells built
in connection with an infiltration gallery from where water is pumped to a storage tank and then conveyed
to tap stands and cattle troughs. Other improvements often applied are concrete siltation traps and inflow
channels, spillways, and lining of the bottom of the Hafir with geotextiles.

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Hafirs have also been constructed for livestock and agricultural purposes. There is no systematic recording
or database on the number of Hafirs in Somaliland, but some are included in the WSSP project’s upgraded
small earth dam database which is based on the SWALIM source inventory of 2008.The design and/or
construction of the Hafirs are often not up to the best standard, which hampers the efficient operation of the
structure, and in a number of cases the structures have not even lasted one rainy season.

Strategy

In future, large-scale Hafirs (100,000 m3 storage capacity and above) need to be constructed as an integral
part of improved water supplies to small towns and communities, where borehole water is either not
available or the groundwater is too salty. The Hafir (raw) water will then have to be led to a water treatment
plant. A number of Hafirs were built in rural Somaliland in the 1980s funded by the World Bank to supply
water for pastoralists along the Somaliland – Ethiopia border. The dams had generator rooms, attendant
rooms, animal troughs and kiosks. At present three of the structures are still operational.

Small earth dams

A large number of small earth dams exist in Somaliland, commonly found in areas around Gebileyand
Hargeisa districts as well as in the southern areas near the Ethiopian border. They are generally constructed
in the center of a small valley or in natural depressions, and also ‘in stream’ in the wadi system. They are
simple structures, and their main function is domestic and livestock water supply. They generally do not a
have a spillway and are therefore vulnerable to collapse in extreme rainfall events. The number of dams
based on SWALIM and a review of Google Earth images are not more than 131 dams.

Berkads

Other small to medium sized rainwater harvesting structures include berkads averaging around 400 m3
storage. The berkads are concrete lined storage facilities that are filled by tankers, but some of them are
also built to harvest surface runoff from rain water. Berkads are mainly used at the homestead level.

Sand dams and sub-surface dams

Quite a number of sand dams and sub-surface dams (“dooxxidh”) have been constructed in Somaliland.
However, there are no records of the number and location of these dams. The predominant means of water
abstraction is by shallow wells sunk into the sand in the bed or on the banks. Water is generally abstracted
by bucket or hand pump, but also motorized pumps are in use.

Infiltration gallery

There is only one example of an infiltration gallery at Haraf near Hargeisa – although it does not have water
throughout the year.

Water truck

In many towns distributing water-trucks and donkey-carts to households represent an important business.
In quite a number of locations and settlements almost their entire water supply relies on water tanker
services especially in the water stressed areas. Usually the trucks are filled from private or public production
boreholes or shallow wells.

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The importance of and the role played by tankers distributing water in towns and in rural areas across
Somaliland should not be underestimated also when it comes to the future fabric of water supply provision
to large segments of the population. For instance, more households rely on tanker water than the various
Water Supply Agencies together in total can reach with their supply and distribution systems.

3.6 Impacts of floods and droughts on the Water Sector

3.7 Water Demand Analysis

In Somaliland the main water use categories can be listed as follows: domestic, including institutional and
commercial users;

• industrial water use

• irrigated agriculture;
• livestock watering;
• hydropower (non-consumptive water user); and
• Environmental flows and ecological services.

As stated in the National Water Policy and also reflected in the National Water Act, water for domestic use
is the first priority use category, which must not be compromised by other uses in case of general shortage
of water, e.g. during drought situations

The present chapter elaborates on these water use categories and their projected water demands as
prerequisite information to identify and propose infrastructural measures to fulfill these water requirements
over the 30-year planning horizon, which is divided into the following 3 water demand projection periods:

• Short-term period
• Medium-term period
• Long-term period
• Water for domestic use

In the context of the WSSP the domestic water use category is basically confined to a number of ‘demand
centers’ (large and small towns) incorporating the 6 regional capitals, and 32 district and other towns
defined to be above the threshold of 1,000 households (MoNPD categorization of an urban town).
Additionally, water for the rural population is also included in this WSSP not looked at as individual
settlements, but incorporated as a ‘lump sum’ in the regional administrative configuration (6 regions).

Water for industrial use

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As far as the industrial and commercial water use categories are concerned, a distinction needs to be made
between on the one hand commercial and minor industrial users to be supplied by the respective town’s
water supply scheme, i.e. included in the above domestic category, and on the other hand major industrial
complexes, e.g. beverage plants, which almost certainly will be required to invest in their own water
supplies when and where they eventually may be located.

Irrigated agriculture

In present day Somaliland no larger scale irrigated agriculture zones exist, and in fact these can only be a
reality if surface water can be made available from ‘perennial’ impounded reservoirs behind larger dams.
In that respect the situation is different from the domestic ‘demand centre’ concept. The usage of water for
irrigated agriculture rather depends on the following two aspects to be fulfilled, i.e. (i) existence of suitable
soils and conducive topographical features, and (ii) a larger dam and storage reservoir to supply the
irrigation water as and when required throughout the year located upstream to supply the agricultural zone
with water by gravity.

Hence, in the context of this WSSP, irrigated agriculture ‘water demand centers are rather defined (location
and areal size) by the amount of water which can be made available and importantly the sites identified
favorable for construction of adequately sized dams. In other words, it is the identified dam sites and water
abstraction yields from these dams which are some of the pre-requisites for the further planning of larger
irrigated agriculture zones in Somaliland.

Livestock watering

Water for livestock can to some extent better be planned for in accordance with the concept of ‘demand
centers – a case in point are the huge cattle and camel holding grounds in connection with the export of
livestock from the Port of Berbera.

Hydropower

Some of the larger dam sites identified may also serve a smaller-scale hydropower plant. In as much as a
hydropower plant is considered a non-consumptive user it does not influence the amount of water further
downstream of the dam, and as such is not included directly as a water user category. Where a hydropower
plant can be suggested as part of a proposed project, the configuration is such that the water after running
through the turbines is directed to an agro-pastoral area providing water for irrigated agriculture.

The supply challenges

In a situation of growing population and growing expectations regarding improvement in the water supply
services, the challenge is three-fold:

• to catch up with a vast unmet demand in the urban areas;

• to catch up with increasing future demand per capita; and
• to catch up with an increasing urban population.

A major aspect of the strategic challenge is the fact that in Somaliland the water supply is a real constraint
to economic development. From this it follows that additional water supply is a necessary basis for socio-

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economic development. Additional water resources made available would be a precondition for economic
development – other preconditions must be in place too, such as supply of electricity, supply of raw
materials, capital and labour, and markets for final products.

Two water use parameters are essential to quantify domestic water demand and supply target projections,
namely,the daily water usage expressed as a unit consumption figure in liters per capita per day (LCD);
andthe anticipated development (improvement) in service level, expressed as the percentage of the people
within a water supply service area who has access to safe drinking water.

In the NDP II it is stated as an overall average for the country as a whole that some 42% of the population
currently has access to safe drinking water with a marked difference between the urban and rural segments
of the population, and also between the various urban towns.

As discussed in Section Error! Reference source not found. the immediate goal set by the NDP II on a
national level aims at an 8% increase in service coverage by 2021, which indicates a 2% water supply
expansion annually. If it is assumed that the same investment level as imbedded in the NDP II stipulations
is maintained, it indicates that it would take another 25 years for the remaining half of the population to
enjoy safe water supply services – a time period tallying to a large extent with the WSSP period. Judging
conservatively in the context of this WSSP, it is further argued in Section Error! Reference source not
found. that Somaliland will not be able to meet the internationally set SDG-6 by 2030, but should more
realistically aim for a full coverage towards the end of the planning horizon.

Urban domestic supply – development in unit (per capita) consumption

From the few water supply schemes for which consumption data are available it can be found that the
present unit consumption figure in average is around 40 litre per capita per day (LCD). This is a low figure
indicating that the water service is provided under restricted conditions, which could be due to some form
of water rationing, unwanted stoppages (breakdowns) in supply, water source limitations etc. The price of
water could also be influencing the amount of water actually used by the consumers.

A common methodology used in water demand analyses is to include the diversity of unit consumption
levels which exists across the various segments of larger urban populations. While not verified statistically
in the local setting of Somaliland, the assumption is made that the population can be divided into three
groups according to their material living standards and hence their water consumption, i.e. high, medium,
and low consumption categories. In the context of this WSSP the urban water demand calculations are
based on the following unit consumption figures expressed in LCD:

• High category (high-cost residential areas): 130 LCD

• Medium category (high-density housing estates and flats): 65 LCD
• Low category |(water kiosk users or other supply means): 25 LCD

In step with the expected economic development and higher prosperity in society, a part of the group of
low consumption households will move to the medium consumption category, and likewise households in
the medium category would move into the high consumption category.

The calculations in this chapter are presented for two scenarios:

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one scenario which assumes a modest development (little shift between consumption categories) and in the
context of the WSSP termed a “baseline scenario”; and one scenario which assumes a more vigorous
development with a more pronounced social mobility, resulting in faster changes in the composition of
high, medium and low consumption households, which is captured in a “high growth scenario”.

presents the assumptions made in respect of the proportion of households as they fall into the three standard
of living categories for both scenarios and the development in the ‘movement’ of households during the
plan horizon, i.e. 2030, 2040 and 2050. Although in this demand estimate analysis the unit consumption
stays constant within the respective standard of living categories as listed above, the average increase of
the per capita water use is caused by the shift in standard of living from low consumption households over
medium to high consumption households.

Table 4: Urban water consumption categories for baseline and high growth scenarios

High Medium Low

Year Scenario consumption consumption consumption
households households households

Baseline
2020 5% 25% 70%
High growth

Baseline 7% 33% 60%

2030
High growth 10% 50% 40%

Baseline 10% 40% 50%

2040
High growth 20% 50% 30%

Baseline 15% 50% 35%

2050
High growth 30% 60% 10%

Rural domestic supply – development in unit (per capita) consumption

Without specific local statistical evidence of the average per capita consumption in rural Somaliland, the
starting point is taken to be 20 LCD as often seen to be the case in other rural settings. In step with further
development also in the rural areas, for instance outreach of electrification programmes, an impact will
gradually also be felt on the amount of water used in rural households. Error! Reference source not found.
provides an overview of the development in the unit consumption figures applied in the water demand
estimation for the rural population. It should be noted that these LCD figures are for calculation of the rural
domestic water demand and does not include water for livestock.

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5. SECTOR PLANNING AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS

5.1 Planning Framework

The current national planning instruments relevant to the water sector are as follows:

Somaliland Vision 2030 (2011)

The Somaliland National Vision 2030 provides the road map for the country’s long-term development
aspirations and goals, summed up in the vision statement as achieving “A stable, democratic and prosperous
country where people enjoy a high quality of life”. The vision organizes the structural challenges which the
country faces under five key pillars: (1) Economic Development, (2) Infrastructure Development, (3)
Governance and Rule of Law, (4) Social Development, and (5) Environmental Protection. Vision 2030
created the foundation for national planning and initiated the five-year National Development Plan process

National Development Plan 2

The first National Development Plan, following the five-pillar approach, addressed the water sector
primarily under the “Infrastructure” pillar. It reported that 127 Government owned deep boreholes and other
sources of water had been completed and that about 40% of all existing wells nationally were operational.
The plan identified specific priority initiatives for the water sector, including for example “Strengthening
municipal water development agencies to improve urban distribution of water”, “Survey and develop
underground water resources “, and “Build strategically distributed deep boreholes as part of drought
mitigation in all regions”.

With respect to water, the NDP II (2017-2021) takes a significantly different approach compared to NDP
I. Under NDP II water largely appears under the “Social Development” Pillar with a set of WASH targets
expressed as percentages which are tied particularly to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6
“Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” Target 1 of SDG 6 –
which is to be achieved by 2030 is to “achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking
water for all.”

NDP II establishes a number of percentage-based outcomes to address SDG 6 up to 2021, for example:

▪ By 2021, increase access to safe and affordable drinking water for domestic use by 20%;
▪ By 2021, increase access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene by 10% and reduce open
defecation by 4%, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable
situations; and
▪ By 2021, improve water quality by reducing by 30% of consumption of water contaminated with
hazardous dissolved chemicals and salinity.

For each of the NDP II outcomes, indicators and targets (given in the form of percentages) for priority
interventions are identified as shown for Outcome 1 of SDG 6 in Table 6

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 Table 5: Outcome 1 for SDG 6 under the NDP II

SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Final
Baseline
NDP II Outcome Indicator target Priority interventions
(2016)
(2021)

1. Develop and implement investment

plan for Somaliland, including
By 2021, Proportion 41.9% 50.28% urban and rural areas to address
increase by 20% of long-term water supply needs
access to safe and population
affordable using Expand existing water supply
drinking water improved structure in major towns
for domestic use drinking
water Construction and rehabilitation of
water systems/mini-water systems
in rural areas using renewable
energy

Develop and implement National

Advocacy Strategy for WASH

Source: NDP II Table 79, page 201

Since the water sector under NDP II does not feature specifically as part of the “Infrastructure” pillar and
neither does it feature specifically under the “Economic Development Pillar”, it can be argued that the water
sector as a whole saw greater emphasis under NDP I than under NDP II, and that under NDP II, the emphasis
placed only on percentage-based WASH targets results in less specific practical guidance for MoWRD than
was the case under NDP I.

Error! Reference source not found. 2 shows the annual increase in coverage rate that will be required to
meet the SDG 6 target of 100% coverage by 2030, and to meet lower targets of 90% and 80% coverage by
2030 against present day coverage estimates of 30%, 40% and 50%. If the average coverage in 2018 is now
40%, then to achieve a 100% coverage target by 2030 – water supply coverage in Somaliland must increase
by 7.5% every year for the next 12 years. If the annual coverage increases per year fell from 7.5% to 6%
then 80% of the population would be served by 2030.

Assuming that NDP II is successful in raising coverage to 50.28% by 2021, then subsequent NDPs must
continue to promote an increase in coverage of 7.5% per annum if SDG 6 Target 1 of 100% coverage is to
be achieved by 2030.

Table 6: Annual coverage rate increase required to meet SDG-6 by 2030

Coverage Target by 2030

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 100% 80% Coverage
90% Coverage
Coverage in Coverage
2018 Increase needed in coverage per year to achieve
coverage target by 2030

% % % %

30 10.5 9.5 8.5

40 7.5 7.0 6.0

50 6.0 5.0 4.0

The figure in the above table provides evidence of the enormous task Somaliland is facing to achieve the
SDG 6 and Vision 2030. The present WSSP takes a cautious and realistic approach towards the
improvement in water supply coverage levels, and advocates an approach whereby the “universal and
equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all” in Somaliland only can be achieved gradually
throughout the full planning horizon.

WASH Sector Prioritization Framework

The WASH Sector Priority Framework identifies priority activities needed to achieve key outputs for
priority outcomes in NDP 2. The NDP-II contains approximately 230 outcomes across the 9 planning
sectors and 3 cross-cutting themes. The MoWRD, with technical support of MoP&ND, established the
Sector Prioritization Framework which prioritized the outcomes and identified the most important activities
to be implemented in the sector due to the limited resources.

The Ministry has prioritized the following outcomes from the National Development Plan II. The prioritized
outcomes are summarized in the table below:

Table 7: WASH Prioritized Outcomes in NDPII

OUTCOME

Water Sector Strategic Plan(WSSP 2020 - 2024) - Ministry of Water Resources Development Page 30
 WSH_6-1 By 2021, increase access to safe and affordable drinking water for domestic use by 20

WSH_6-3 By 2021, improve water quality by reducing by 30% of consumption of water

contaminated with hazardous dissolved chemicals and salinity

WSH_6-5 By 2021, increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable
withdrawals (IWRM)

WSH_6-6 By 2021, reduce the number of vulnerable people suffering from water scarcity in
drought prone areas by 20%

WSH_6-8 By 2021, increase number of sustainable water supply and sanitation management
entities in urban and rural areas

WSH_6-9 By 2021, increase the capacity of development public institutions engaging in the WASH
sector by 30%

The sector prioritization framework sets out details of outputs and key activities to be implemented
prioritized by MoWRD that this Strategic Plan will realize through a systematic approach to program and
project design. The prioritization framework incorporates priorities identified during regional planning
exercise conducted by MoPND in all regions where impact of drought are assessed WASH sector
development priorities

Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

The Vision 2030 pillars and the NDP II sub-sectors can be readily aligned against all 17 of the SDGs to
show where “water” is a cross-cutting issue and likely to contribute to the realization of the SDGs. This is
shown in Error! Reference source not found.3, however the emphasis of NDP II as noted above is clearly
on realizing SDG 6 under Pillar 4 of Vision 2030.

Food and Water Security Strategy 2011

Prepared in 2011, the Somaliland Food and Water Security Strategy presents a process through which to
improve the availability of and access to adequate and safe food and water in a sustainable manner,
especially for rural communities, the urban poor and other vulnerable groups. As a strategy it identifies a
range of interventions, programmes and projects, but does not set any specific time bound outputs or
objectives. For example, the water resource interventions and management strategies include:

• Assess available water resources, including precipitation, surface water, and groundwater
• Develop a network of strategic boreholes, reservoirs and check dams across the country;
• Introduce sustainable, equitable, efficient and economic use of scarce water resources in
agricultural production and within rural communities, with due concern for watershed management
and wider environmental and social downstream implication;
• Promote agro-forestry in the drylands;
• Integrated water and land management programmes;

Water Sector Strategic Plan(WSSP 2020 - 2024) - Ministry of Water Resources Development Page 31
 • Participatory integrated watershed management programme; and
• Water resource development investment programme.

National Water Policy 2004

The Somaliland National Water Policy was drafted in 2004 and anticipated the development of a national
water strategy, water law and also regulations over time. The policy is a robust document which overall has
stood the test of time. Much of the vision for the sector which was established by the policy has been
captured under the Water Act of 2011. However, given the considerable developments on the ground which
have taken place in the water sector since 2004, the water policy requires updating in order to provide more
specific overall guidance for the sector.

National Water Strategy 2004

The National Water Strategy provided a range of generic guidance for the sector and was intended to inform
government generally about the emerging roles and responsibilities in the sector at that time. It provided a
basic outline for a three-stage implementation plan over a period of six years.

UNICEF WASH Strategies

To pursue to the Goal 6 of Sustainable Development Goal 6 which targets to achieve universal, sustainable
and equitable access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene , UNICEF developed WASH strategies
(2016-2030). The purpose of this new Strategy for WASH is to guide UNICEF’s organization-wide
contribution to achieving SDG 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all by 2030.

The strategy is aligned to the Strategic Plan as it supports cooperative partnership between MoWRD and
UNICEF to plan and implement programs that will provide access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene,
including in schools and health centres and in humanitarian situations when children and women are most
vulnerable. The Strategy targets to mitigate droughts and impacts of climatic of climatic changes and it
contributes to capacity building of MoWRD.

IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) Strategy

The IGAD Drought Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) Strategy is aimed at addressing the
effects of drought and related shocks in the IGAD region in a sustainable and holistic manner.

This Water Sector Strategic Plan is incompliance to the priority interventions in the IDDRSI Strategy which
contributes to resilience of droughts in IGAD regions.

The Strategy identifies number of priority intervention areas that will help build resilience through reducing
the vulnerability of target communities to climatic and economic shocks. The priority intervention areas
include ensuring equitable access and sustainable use of natural resources such as water, while improving
environmental management; providing equitable access to livelihood support and basic social services;
improving disaster risk management capabilities and preparedness for effective response; enhancing the
generation and use of research, knowledge, technology and innovations in the IGAD region; promoting
conflict prevention and resolution and peace building; strengthening coordination mechanisms and

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institutional arrangements for more organized, collaborative and synergistic action as well as improving
partnerships to increase the commitment and support necessary to execute the objectives of the initiatives.

The Strategy serves as a common framework for developing national and regional programmes that will be
designed to enhance drought resilience through building sustainability in the IGAD region. The Strategy
will guide and inform the process of implementing the drought resilience initiative at the national and
regional levels.

5.2 Legal Framework

There are various sources of laws governing the water sector in Somaliland is outlined in table below:

Table 8: Various sources of laws governing the water sector

Source of Law No. Date Note

At Art. 5.2 The laws of the nation shall be

Constitution of Somaliland 2000 grounded on and shall not be contrary to Islamic
Sharia.

Sharia Law (including Districts Courts deal with family law,

Regional and District succession and civil litigation. Case laws
Courts) however do not affect future decisions.

For example: Decree of 28/09/2010 transferring

responsibility for District Grade A water
Presidential Decrees
supplies from local government to MoWRD
arising from Article 90 of
(Gebiley, Burao, Erigavo, Laasanod and
the Constitution of
Berbera), with Hargeisa coming under a special
Somaliland
arrangement under the President and Boroma
continuing under a PPP arrangement.

Customary law is not specifically provided for

Customary (traditional in the Constitution, but the people are entrusted
law) to resolve disputes through traditional justice in
conjunction with Islamic law.

Law on the Delineation of This law provides inter alia that the ministry
the Organisation of the responsible for water has the responsibility to
71/201
Government and of the 2015 set policy and to ensure that citizens get enough
5
Independent Public Bodies drinking water, and to manage runoff and
Gazetted on 5/3/2016 rainwater capture, and to license water

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 providers, Art 33. At Art.61 Ministries must
appoint Regional Coordinators.

This law provides inter alia that district councils

Regions and Districts Self- 23/200 have specified responsibilities with regard to
2002
Administration Law 2 public health and water supplies Art. 20 & Art
32, and may levy tax on water supplies, Art. 45.

National Water Act 49/201

2011 See below
(Amended Nov 2017) 1

The Water Act requires the Ministry to establish

regulations (Art 6.1 (a)). At present regulations
exist covering 1)-Water Rights Regulations, 2)-
Abstraction Permit Regulations, 3)-Ownership
Draft Water Regulations 2005
Regulations, 4)-Public Water supply
Regulations, 5)-Drilling Regulations, 6)-Water
Quality Regulations, and 7)-Water Tariff
Regulations

Districts can form “Water Management Units”

Regulations for rural water
to run a rural water supply” (National Water Act
supply management
Art 35.2)

Forestry and Wildlife 69/201 Certain provisions relate to water with

2015
Conservation Law 5 agreement of the ministry responsible for water.

Draft Mining Code 2014 Concerns abstraction & diversion of rivers,

2014
(Arts. 4.8e, 4.22 and 8) pollution and ESIA requirements.

As provided for under the Constitution Art. 111

Municipal law (bylaws)
and law 23/2002

Contract law:

Contracts as agreed
between Government and
Provided for in the National Water Act Art. 28.4
Water Agencies for urban
water supply

Contracts as agreed
between District
Authorities and private
Provided for in the National Water Act Art.34
sector management
entities for rural water
supply

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 5.2.1 National Water Act 2011

The National Water Act (Law No.49) was established in 2011 and it provides key legal principles, duties
and obligations of MoWRD and relevant stakeholders. The Act was amended in November 2017 to address
critical issues concerning the regulation of urban water supply management and privately-operated water
supplies. The Water Act provides national, regional/ district and community responsibilities of MoWRD
as listed below:

National responsibilities

• Overall management, planning, coordination, formulation of policies and legislation, regulation

and harmonization of the water sector.
• Establishment and enforcement of water sector regulations and bylaws to protect and control water
resources, conserve water sources .
• Setting and implement water quality standards, guidelines, protocols and water rights based on
permits and regulations
• Setting guidelines and regulations for water tariffs, including for raw water abstraction and supply
and sales tax.
• Establishment of committee to approve regulations, arbitrate disputes over responsibilities and
promote sector development.
• Trustee: water works built with public funds shall be public assets held in trust for the citizens by
the State.
• Planning and regulation of water resources for livestock and irrigation in consultation with relevant
stakeholders
• Protection of natural surface waters while sand mining requires permission from MoWRD

Regional responsibilities

• The Ministry shall appoint, a Water Officer in each district, responsible for a Register of Water
Rights and shall issue permits, and enforcing compliance with sector standards and regulations
• The Ministry may prescribe a plan for design and operation of a well, borehole, well field or dam.
• The State may delegate the right of use of the water-related public assets to regions or districts, but
can reposes the right of use if local government fails in proper provision.

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 • Districts responsible for urban water supply, water boards can be established to oversee operator
contracts awarded to Water Providers
• MoWRD responsible for monitoring performance of Districts
• Local authorities are responsible for planning, sourcing finance, implementation and management
of water investments in conjunction with traditional structures and water user groups / associations
or water management units

Community level responsibilities

• Community mechanisms to resolve disputes related to water rights using customary law with
recourse to a competent Court is required.
• Privately owned water supplies shall be managed by their owners provided that they comply with
Water Act.
• Overall the Water Act provides a robust platform establishing the fundamental legal principles,
duties and obligations of stakeholders and the basis for the regulation of the water sector. But due
to the dynamic nature of the water sector and its rapid development in recent years, questions and
challenges to the law are going to arise.

5.3 Water Service Delivery Modalities

Somaliland water act (Law. No 49 - 2010) highlights urban water supply service providers can be:

• a local, autonomous (self-accounting) public water agency,

• a national, autonomous (self-accounting) public water agency,
• an independent private Water Provider (individual or small private enterprise or larger-scale private
company PPP)

The water act did not analyze the modalities for the rural supply management. However, MoWRD
developed a water management guideline which emphasis community based rural water supply
management concept:

• Water management unit manages the water sources in the villages/settlements

• The water management unit consists of head of village, water source operator and one member
from the community member if necessary.
• There are village water committees selected by the community elders and village authority,

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 • The district authority and district/region water officers approve the selected management unit.
• The district water officer will sign water supply agreement with the water management unit (head
of village).
• The supply agreement period is two years.
• The water management unit members are nominated by:
• Technician/operator by the district water office in consultation with village committee.
• Head of village by ministry of interior
• Member from water users/manager selected by village committee.
• Water management unit are responsible all water supply assets in the village.
• Water management unit are responsible to provide adequate, safe and affordable water supply to
their communities.
• The water management units are responsible of the operation maintenance, security and miner
repairing.
• The water management units are responsible to propose water tariffs under the approval district
water office.
• Water management unit are accountable to the district water office
• All agreements and documents should be kept in Village and the district water office.

For urban water service delivery management, the water act permits than can be operated through public-
private partnership arrangements (PPP) in the framework of establishing lease agreement between
MoWRD, local authorities and the service provider. The water act imposes the establishment of public
water agency under national authority of MoWRD. Hargeisa Water Agency is public water agency that was
established under a Presidential degree in special case. All other public water agencies are established under
Minister of Water Resources Development.

Table 9: Current urban water supply arrangements

Region Capital Urban water supply arrangement

Special Case: Hargeisa Water Agency (HWA), is under

MaroodiJeeh Hargeisa the responsibility of the Presidenct’s Office. Other
agencies assist

Gebiley: “PPP” lease agreement expired in 2015. New

MaroodiJeeh
Arrangement presently under negotiation

MaroodiJeeh Tog Waajale “PPP” lease agreement

Togdheer Burao Public Water Agency (Water Management Unit)

Sanaag Erigavo Local Government Management

Awdal Borama “PPP” lease - SHABA

LaasAno “PPP” lease arrangement recently signed – not yet fully

Sool
d functional.

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Saahil Berbera Public Water Agency (Water Management Unit)

6. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER SECTOR STRATEGIC PLAN

6.1 Key Strategic Objectives

13. To promote national watershed management and rainwater harvesting management in line with
international principles of Integrated Watershed Management (IWM.)
14. To provide adequate, safe and affordable water to urban and pre-urban (23 districts) in Somaliland.
15. To provide adequate, safe and affordable water to rural communities in Somaliland.
16. To improve water governance and sustainable management with the development and
reinforcement of water sector regulatory frameworks.
17. To build institutional and technical capacity for better service delivery and effective coordination,
information management and quality assurance.
18. To develop drought mitigation programs to improve resilience of national water resources to
climatic and environmental changes.
19. To increase equitable access to sustainable hygiene and sanitation services through integrating with
water resources development.

6.2 Frame of Implementation

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 Table 10: Implementation Framework

Programmatic Area 1: National watershed management and rain water harvesting

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES:/Targets 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

Promote national watershed Installation of surface/ ground water

management and rainwater monitoring tools including rain gauge network ✓ ✓ ✓
harvesting management in line system (120)/river flow measurement (20)
with international principles of
Integrated Watershed Survey suitable locations for sand & sub-
Management (IWM.) surface dams and construction of 150 sand/sub
surface dams in the 20 major dry Wadis in
Somaliland.

Improvement of underground water recharges

schemes including sub-surface/sand dams,
RCC and bank dams.

Installation of Surface/ ground water

monitoring tools including rain gauge network
system (120)/ river flow measurement (20).

Install water table automatic monitoring

devices in 6 major town aquifers.

Develop strategies and guidelines for the

conservation of runoff and surface water to
enhance resilience of water sources to
droughts and climate change

Study, design & construction of the Butochi

dam and related infrastructure.

Develop a resource mobilization strategy for

sustainable water utilization project and
implement.

Promotion of roof water harvesting for

domestic use, IDP’s and schools including
workshops and training for water harvesting
material.

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Programmatic Area 1: National watershed management and rain water harvesting

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES:/Targets 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

Promotion & awareness on flood water

harvesting campaign nationally

implementation of improved Water Shed

Information Management

Construct water and soil conservation

structures to stop run off and land bedding of
infiltration structures

Procure material for make of water tanks &

gutters.

Strengthening of awareness raising,

community sensitization and conflict-
sensitive programming

Development of MoWRD technical capacity

on flood based systems and spate irrigation

Study and development of standard designs of

flood harvesting infrastructure

Develop watershed conservation strategies for

industrial waste discharges and storm water
collection systems

Excavate dry river concrete and erect 4 control

river basin schemes

Promote research on development of low cost,

better quality roof top rainwater harvesting
systems

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Programmatic Area 2: Ground Water Resources Development

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

To provide adequate, safe and Hargeisa Urban Water Supply

affordable water to urban and
pre-urban (23 districts) in ▪ Upgrade Ged-Deble by replacing 7 old
Somaliland. wells and connect the new system with
well.
▪ Earth dams in Hargeisa for domestic
use constructed. Procure new electro-
mechanical equipment.
▪ Survey & rehabilitate existing earth
dams
▪ Construct Fence and rehabilitate water
intake structures. ✓ ✓ ✓
▪ Drill 6 new boreholes at Las-dhure (a
nearby aquifer to Ged-deble)
▪ Connect existing system & Equipping
of new boreholes and installation of
collection pipe work (27 km of 160 /
250 mm HDPE) to new Las-dhure well
field
▪ Construct new boosting system (build
600mm transmission lines, New
electric pumps & New Gen sets (direct
drive)

Construct standpipes for tanker trucks by use of

construction companies, public toilets, car
wash, etc.

Construct watchman rooms

Install water table automatic monitoring devices

in 6 major town aquifers.

Upgrade water supply networks of the urban and

pre-urban locations with pro-poor strategies

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Programmatic Area 2: Ground Water Resources Development

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Conduct hydro geological studies, monitoring

and Groundwater.

Burco Water Supply Expansion

▪ Construct 4 high capacity water storage

tanks
▪ Expansion of water supply network
▪ Installation solar power decentralized
system
▪ Capacity building of Burco Water
Agency

Lascaanood Water Supply Development

▪ Completion of water supply detailed

design
▪ Implementation of water supply system
and network
▪ Construction of Lascaanood water
supply offices
▪ Capacity building of water supply
management

Borama Water Agency

▪ Connection of water supply system

from Afraaga water source
▪ Expansion of water supply network
▪ Construction of underground water
recharge schemes in Damuug aquifer
▪ Installation of solar power systems on
existing water source

Berbera Water Agency

▪ Installation of solar power systems on

existing water source
▪ Expansion of water supply network

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Programmatic Area 2: Ground Water Resources Development

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Erigavo Water Agency

▪ Expansion of water supply network

▪ Installation of solar power systems on
existing water source

Implementation of master plans and expansion

of urban water supply systems.

Development of water supply systems of 20

major districts in Somaliland.

Programmatic Area 3:

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

To provide adequate, safe and Development of 120 mini water systems,

affordable water to rural construction of 300 shallow wells, drilling of
communities in Somaliland. 250 BH, construction of 100 Earth Dams,
✓ ✓ ✓
construction of 50 Haffir Dams and
development of 20 springs by using
renewable energy.

Implementation of water desalination

projects in rural areas with brackish water
sources due to geological and
hydrogeological rock formations

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Programmatic Area 3:

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Rehabilitation/repairing of existing water

facilities for human and livestock drinking
and irrigation purposes.

Improvement of Somaliland underground

water recharge schemes including sub-
surface/sand dams, RCC and bank dams

Construction of 30 high capacity Haffir

dams in Haud/Togheer and Nugaal basins.

Construction of 20 new water harvesting

irrigation schemes for agro-pastoralist
communities to increase resilience to
drought / climate change

Implementation of water desalination

projects in rural areas with brackish water
sources due to geological and
hydrogeological rock formations

Implementation of master plans and

expansion of urban water supply systems.

Development of water supply systems of 20

major districts in Somaliland

Increased Water sources in rural areas by

constructing/rehabilitation Water
systems/mini-system

Existing water supply system capacity

sustainably used, and water production
increased

Installation of solar power systems in 300

rural water sources to improve water supply
sustainability & reduce cost of O&M

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Programmatic Area 3:

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Construction, equip & operationalize water

systems repair centers in major district towns

Develop water supply system for rural

schools & MCH.

Programmatic Area 4

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 202 2021 2022 2023

0

To Improve water governance Translate the English version of the Water Act
and sustainable management and publish in the official bulletin ✓ ✓ ✓
with the development and
reinforcement of water sector
regulatory frameworks. Review and amend the national water policy,
National water strategy and national water
regulation documents according the amended
version of the National water Act.

Revised, amended and disseminated concerned

legal framework

Hire water regulation experts for the

improvement of Somaliland national water
regulatory framework documents.

Advocacy of policy makers and legislators for

implementation of adaptive measures with
respect to climate change and watershed
conservations

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Programmatic Area 5

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

To build institutional and Train ministry staff and service providers on the
technical capacity for better improvement of institutional functionality and ✓ ✓ ✓
service delivery and effective performance indicators
coordination, information
management and quality Provision of specialization and functional skills
assurance to the staffs of Ministry of Water

Development by highly reputable

institutions/universities to requisite academic
and professional qualifications in partnership
with existing international water universities or
institutes.

Strengthen knowledge management and staff

performance appraisal

Strengthen capacity of staffs of business

planning, strategic management and internal
control systems of policies and procedures

Equip and operationalize the Somaliland central

laboratory for water quality analysis and
certifications

Establish coordinated early warning

system/body for drought i Provide technical
assistance and experts to MoWD to improve
performance of Somaliland water sector.

Equip Ministry of Water Resources

Development with 2 drilling rigs, 2 Bulldozers,
2 borehole maintenance rigs and transportation
and heavy water engineering machineries.

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Programmatic Area 5

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Provision of geophysical survey and hydro-

geological equipment provision of water
engineering and GIS equipment and tools

Water technology Institute (HRG)

• Strengthening and equipping Water

Technology Institute
• Construction of new workshops &
classrooms
• Develop curriculum, Business plan,
academic policies & guidelines
• Establish partnership with international
lead water institutes

Establishment and endorsement of Somaliland

Water Trust Fund

Development and operationalization of a

national water sector M&E system, record
keeping and information management system
for MoWRD

Development of guidelines and tools to support

sector coordination, partnership building and
networking

Build capacity of MoWRD to strengthen

planning, statistics and WASH sector

Enhance the capacity of two mobile technical

teams to respond to the emergency break down
and routine rehabilitation/maintenance of water
sources.

Preposition of the buffer stock in the regions as

early respond to the emergency break down

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Programmatic Area 5

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Strengthen capacity of MoWD staffs on drought

mitigation approaches, technique and water
resources management

Improvement of the management of existing

water resources through building capacity in
water planning and monitoring

Installing desalination and water quality

treatment plants into the high saline water
locations

Building the capacity of the MoWD for the

designing, implementation and appropriate uses
of water treatment technologies (i.e.
desalination technologies) by using renewable
energy.

Establish and equip hydrological and

meteorological data and information
management office for MoWRD

Support six regional water quality mobile kits

Development of Water Quality Management

Strategy, Guidelines and tools and water quality
management database

Periodic water quality monitoring of all water

sources, water supply systems and water
bottling companies.

Carrying out water quality surveillance and

certification of new water sources

Provision of specialization and functional skills

to the staffs of Ministry of Water Resources
Development (MoWRD)by highly reputable

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Programmatic Area 5

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

institutions/universities to requisite academic

and professional qualifications

Strengthen knowledge management and staff

performance appraisal

Strengthen capacity of staffs of business

planning, strategic management and internal
control systems of policies and procedures.

Establish community water supply management

committees/operators for rural water facilities

Sign rural water supply agreement between

communities’ committees/operators, and
district/regional authorities and MoWD

Development of water supply management

framework and new institutional model for
sustainable water resources management

Development of national water resources

database for deep boreholes, shallow wells and
surface water sources with comprehensive
management information system

Development of standard guideline, designs and

tools for rural

Community managed water supply systems

established and/or strengthened

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Programmatic Area 6

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

To develop drought mitigation Provide GIS and IT equipment for mapping

programs to improve resilience and reporting droughts as means metrological,
✓ ✓ ✓
of national water resources to Hydrological, Agricultural and Water
climatic and environmental Resources
changes.
Drilling of 50 strategic BH in drought prone
locations.

Improved early warning system of droughts

and management of drought resilience to water
resource

Construction of 80 improved Barkads with

sanitation measures in drought prone areas

Construction of 30 roof harvesting schemes in

30 public institutions (Schools, Health centers
ETC) water with sanitation measures in
drought prone area.

Implement WASH sector 5 years strategic

plan for drought mitigation

Construction of 30 high capacity Haffir dams

in Haud/Togheer and Nugaal basins

Drilling of 50 strategic BH in drought prone

locations.

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Programmatic Area 6

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Construction of 150 sand/sub surface dams in

the 20 major dry Wadis in Somaliland.

Establish coordinated early warning

system/body for drought in WASH.

Preposition of the buffer stock in the regions

as early respond to the emergency break down.

Improve capacity of MoWRD to provide water

quality analytical services for harvested rain
water

Establish demonstration models and prepare

audio-visuals on operation and maintenance of
roof top rainwater harvesting systems

Strengthen capacity of MoWRD staffs on

drought mitigation approaches, technique and
water resources management

Develop and construct 50 water irrigation

schemes along river channels for urban towns
targeting farming communities

Develop a pilot cloud seeding project in

Somaliland

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Programmatic Area

OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES: 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

To Increase equitable access to Establish coordinated early warning

sustainable hygiene and system/body for drought in WASH ✓ ✓ ✓
sanitation services through
integrating with water resources
development
Existing water supply system capacity
sustainably used, and water production
increased

6.3 Implementation Strategies

The crucial implementation strategies of the Strategic Plan include:

1. Develop water resources with good quality water supply infrastructure based on proper assessments,
design, water quality and quantity data analysis, affordable tariff structures, guided by the feasible
technical options, standards and sustainable management system, with focus on the underserved
communities/areas.
2. Strengthen capacity of the Ministry at regional and districts levels, local governments and WASH
sector partners, supporting water service delivery, development and sustainable management of water
supply systems, reinforced with sanitation and hygiene services, within the policy and regulatory
framework, guidelines and standards of Somaliland Government.
3. Promote sustainable management of renewable energy in water resources development
4. Scale up community sanitation and hygiene improvement though integration with water resource
development interventions and ensure all water resources are safe for human consumption and
adequate for hygiene and sanitation purposes
5. Ensure gender equity and women empowerment in planning and management of water resources.
6. Focus on improving access to and delivery of basic WASH services particularly for the most vulnerable
populations and address challenges of the disabled, gender and geographical disparities

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7. Develop early warning, preparedness and response plans for effective climate and drought resilience
in water sector
8. Minimize environmental and social risks in planning and implementation of WASH interventions

6.4 Risk Analysis and Contingency Plans

Managing risk is an integral part of good management practice and an essential element of good corporate
governance. It is something many managers do already in one form or another but when undertaken
effectively across an organization it enables continuous improvement in decision-making and facilitates
continuous improvement in performance. The objective of risk management is to identify and analyses risks
and manage their consequences. Organizations which manage risks effectively and efficiently are more
likely to achieve their objectives at a lower overall cost.

This project risk management guideline aims to provide those responsible for managing project risks with
a common source of risk terminology and definitions. It aims to provide practical guidance on how to
implement and apply risk management in a project management context.

The guideline also identifies issues and processes involved in managing project risks. It includes:

• A general overview of project risk management

• Common sources of risk

• The Victorian Government’s approach to risk management

• Examples of the project risk management process

• A guide for risk management by phase of the investment lifecycle

• An example checklist for risk management; and

• A risk management case study

The guideline also provides references to material that will assist project teams and managers in identifying
and managing project risks.

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 Table 11: Sector Risk Analysis
Type No Risk description Risk Mitigation measures
Leve
l

Economic 1 The programme will be implemented through

The level of fiduciary risk
3 a Project Management Team with strong and
is generally high
proven experience

2 Huge water needs from

Ensuring safe water supply for domestic
economic developments,
purposes (from existing two sources), while
especially livestock
2 adding additional water source for productive
(during Haj season),
use (which can be of lesser quality than
putting pressure on the
drinking water standards)
domestic demands

3 New investments in the Improve management and governance of the

water supply system not 2 system to ensure sustainability (both in terms
sustained of environment and financial)

4 Resistance from and/or Including tanker owners in the initial

sabotage by tanker consultation rounds and involve local leaders
2
owners to build town for everyone to understand the objectives of
distribution system the project and need for development

5 Lack of spare parts for the

Improve spare parts supply chain to the regions
generator, electronic 2
and districts
items and other tools

6 All contracts do not foresee advance payments

unless supported by an unconditional bank
guarantee; all payments are in arrears for
works actually done; payment certificates are
approved by PM and M&E team; final
Misuse of funding by
1 payments are foreseen after defect liability
implementing partners
period. Quarterly assurance visits by external
bodies to the implementing partners, funds
released in small tranches with clear
accountabilities and conditions of release for
future funds.

7 Inflation will drive up Close monitoring of costs and clear

some unit costs beyond 2 communication i.e. any necessary
expected level reprogramming of funds

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 Type No Risk description Risk Mitigation measures
Leve
l

8 The programme will be implemented through

The level of fiduciary risk SDF managed by Mott MacDonald with strong
3
is generally high and proven experience in similar countries like
Sudan, South Sudan

9 Huge water needs from

Ensuring safe water supply for domestic
economic developments,
purposes (from existing two sources), while
especially livestock
2 adding additional water source for productive
(during Haj season),
use (which can be of lesser quality than
putting pressure on the
drinking water standards)
domestic demands

10 New investments in the Improve management and governance of the

water supply system not 2 system to ensure sustainability (both in terms
sustained of environment and financial)

11 Resistance from and/or Including tanker owners in the initial

sabotage by tanker consultation rounds and involve local leaders
2
owners to build town for everyone to understand the objectives of
distribution system the project and need for development

12 Lack of spare parts for the

Improve spare parts supply chain to the regions
generator, electronic 2
and districts
items and other tools

13 All contracts do not foresee advance payments

unless supported by an unconditional bank
guarantee; all payments are in arrears for
works actually done; payment certificate are
approved by PM and M&E team; final
Misuse of funding by
1 payment are foreseen after defect liability
implementing partners
period. Quarterly assurance visits by external
bodies to the implementing partners, funds
released in small tranches with clear
accountabilities and conditions of release for
future funds.

14 Inflation will drive up Close monitoring of costs and clear

some unit costs beyond 2 communication i.e. any necessary
expected level reprogramming of funds

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 Type No Risk description Risk Mitigation measures
Leve
l

15 Resistance from and/or The programme will be implemented through

sabotage by tanker SDF managed by Mott MacDonald with strong
3
owners to build town and proven experience in similar countries like
distribution system Sudan, South Sudan

16 Ensuring safe water supply for domestic

Lack of spare parts for the purposes (from existing two sources), while
generator, electronic 2 adding additional water source for productive
items and other tools use (which can be of lesser quality than
drinking water standards)

Political 1 Consultation workshops to explain and

understand objectives of the project, to be held
Conflicting interests at all phases of the project, to monitor progress
between different etc., and make sure all are still on the same
stakeholders 2 page -> project communication strategy
(Municipalities, Water Letters of agreement and MoUs will be signed
Providers, etc) as part of the project which will define the
different roles and responsibilities of each
stakeholders

2 Lack of coordination with

Increase inter-ministerial collaboration on
other ministries
2 issues to do with water (EIAs, livestock
(environment, livestock,
holding grounds, etc.)
agriculture)

3 As part of the regular programming SDF and

Political and civil unrest
MoWR will develop an emergency
related to elections and
3 preparedness Response Plan and Business
instability in
Continuity Plans to support project
neighbouring Somalia
implementation

Environmental 1 Emergency preparedness, water trucking as

last resort; would only be needed in the first
Shortage of water for both phase of the project until
people and livestock 2 construction/expansion works have been
during dry/peak seasons completed. Work with NERAD and other
relevant government departments (livestock,
planning, etc.)

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 Type No Risk description Risk Mitigation measures
Leve
l

2 Define watersheds that will supply water in the

Depletion of water
2 medium and long term and define measures to
sources
protect these sources

3 The enhanced erosion potential of the soil

especially in areas with high relief energy
induced by excavation activities may be
Soil erosion 1
reduced by sowing of grass. Extremely steep
hillsides have to be protected by technical
measures.

4 Emergency preparedness, water trucking as

last resort; would only be needed in the first
Shortage of water for both phase of the project until
people and livestock 2 construction/expansion works have been
during dry/peak seasons completed. Work with NERAD and other
relevant government departments (livestock,
planning, etc.)

Physical 1 Delays in implementation

through insufficient
Planning and release of funds on submission of
capacity to provide a 1
a payment certificate and upon work done
response at the desired
scale

2 MoWR will be encouraged to have a database

Weak data collection and in place and it will be strengthened by SDF and
consequent inability to 2 other donor partners. This will result in better
demonstrate results baseline and customer data and ongoing
monitoring

3 Past experiences teach

that elaborate public
fountains, kiosks, were
Make kiosk with a strong structure and made
not successful in
with high quality materials that will resist
Somaliland. Simple taps, 1 against rust and vandalisms, but at the same
faucets, are preferred, but time will remain in the elementary concept of
as they are generally kiosks in use locally.
implemented with poor
materials, they are often
out of service in a short

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 Type No Risk description Risk Mitigation measures
Leve
l

time due to rust or

vandalisms.

4 Major problems created

by public or private
connections to the
Agree on standards to be adopted by SDF
secondary or tertiary
2 projects in the implementation of these
networks are the leakages
activities
caused by the use of
incorrect tools and
collars.

Social 1 Further marginalisation

Inclusion of these groups in consultation
of most vulnerable and 2
workshops and planning process
minority populations

2 SDF, MoWR and communities will meet on

Poor ownership of water
regular basis to harmonise approach, regular
supply facilities in 3
monitoring activities will be implemented in
communities
partnership with MoWR.

3 Regular and continuous meetings with

Land ownership wrangles 2 community elders and leaders before and after
implementation of the water facilities

Capacity

Management
and
Coordination

R = (C) Low risk; (B) Medium risk; (A) High risk

6.5 Sector Coordination and Governance

There is an essential increase the level of coordination within the water sector to bring about the much-
needed reforms and changes. Somaliland’s water resources need to be developed and managed in an
integrated and holistic manner in keeping with the principles of integrated Water Sector Strategic Plan

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(WSSP) The increasing water demands have the potential to lead to conflict if not managed with due
consideration of all water users, including the environment. A spirit of cooperation must be continued.

Inter-regional regarding water sharing during periods of shortage has led to disagreement and has led to the
slow step of development of the water sector for the last decade or more.

Lack of coordination is also clear among the water related agencies of the various sub-sectors. Water
resources development agencies and the irrigation sub-sector dominate water activities and water
investment in Somaliland. Irrigation is the largest user of water, but water use in other sub-sectors is equally
important, is also increasing, and will need to be addressed in Strategy plans.

Cooperation, coordination and collaboration between the different water sectors included both the
agriculture and environment sectors need to be improved.

In WSSP coordination and collaboration will be enhanced as follows:

• Coordination within the Component: Improve communication within the components and
implementing agencies (such as BWBs) by establishing a communication desk at the national level.
• Coordination with other components: Internal communications and collaboration will be enhanced
through timely sharing of information and exchange of expertise.
• Coordination with other sectors and stakeholders: Improve communication through timely sharing
of information and exchange of data and expertise.
• The collaboration mechanism initiated through the Somaliland Vision 2030, will be enhanced
through high-level inter-ministerial meetings, and other stakeholder meetings involving the private
sector, government institutions and NGOs for sustainable multi-sectoral coordination and
collaboration. There is a need to initiate climate change dialogue forum for stakeholders, which
serves as a platform for coordination and exchange of experience will be enhanced.
• Ministry of Water Resources Development (MoWRD) will facilitate to establish stakeholders’
forums to share data and information on WRM. The Water Agencies will be encouraged to
participate in RCC (Regional Coordination Committee) and DCC (District Coordination
Committee) meetings.

6.6 Crosscutting Issues

Involvement of women in design of water supply facilities has proven to be advantageous, as women have
considerable knowledge about the location and quality of local water resources and how to store water.
However, this knowledge is seldom tapped, and inclusion of women in decision-making on water
development and management at all levels is still inadequate.

As discussed in the NDP II (NDP 11, p 257), gender Mainstreaming is the process of assessing the
implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in all
areas and at all levels. It is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality. Mainstreaming
involves ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality are central to all
activities - policy development, research, advocacy/ dialogue, legislation, resource allocation, and planning,

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implementation and monitoring of programs and projects. Additionally, while mainstreaming is clearly
essential for securing human rights and social justice for women as well as men, it also increasingly
recognized that incorporating gender perspectives in different areas of development ensures the effective
achievement of other social and economic goals. Mainstreaming can reveal a need for changes in goals,
strategies and actions to ensure that both women and men can influence, participate in and benefit from
development processes. This may lead to changes in organizations – structures, procedures and cultures –
to create organizational environments which are conducive to the promotion of gender equality.

Respecting, protecting and fulfilling all human rights including civil and political, or economic, social and
cultural rights throughout Somaliland in accordance with the constitution of the Country, Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Somaliland Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) human rights
approaches.

A wide range of strategic partnerships and alliances between the central government and the international
community to realize and sustain human rights.

Creating an enabling environment of accountability, in which all rights of citizens and development
beneficiaries are served and treated equally.

6.7 Assumptions

6.8 Implementation Monitoring and Reporting

The Ministry of Water Resources Development will make sure that the implementation of the strategic plan
was followed and aligned all WASH interventions to the implementation framework. There will be semi-
annual and end year reports to review progress achieved and challenges encountered in every year.

The reports will assess the performance on technical and key strategies.

There will be specific M & E plan that the Ministry will monitor who will take role for achieving each
objectives and key activities. Decisions based on the results.

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