Emergency Response
PROLIFE — protecting lives and livelihoods through drought
Six months of drought response in Dollo Ado: 101,010 animals vaccinated, 240 farmers back in production, a new well for Suftu, and cash for the households closest to the edge.
Project at a glance
What six months delivered
Animals vaccinated, benefiting 7,770 households
Farmers in 20 groups supplied and trained
People served by a new hand-dug well in Suftu
Households receiving cash assistance
The situation
When the rains fail, everything fails at once
Drought in the Somali Region does not arrive as a single problem. Food, water and livestock go together, and so does the response.
By late 2024 households across Dollo Ado were losing the animals their income depends on, farmland along the Genale river was going unplanted for want of seed and fuel to run pumps, and safe water was getting harder to reach. Families with children already in treatment for acute malnutrition had no cash buffer at all.
This project was designed as one integrated package rather than five separate interventions, delivered as a consortium and aligned with the woreda sector offices from the start.
What we did
- Supported 240 farmers in 20 farm groups with agricultural inputs, farm tools and fuel — improved maize, bean and sorghum seed, pangas, shovels, rakes, sickles and sprayers
- Delivered five new irrigation water pumps and distributed 4,400 litres of fuel to keep farmland irrigated
- Provided fodder forage seed — Sudan grass and cowpea — to households keeping livestock
- Trained all 240 farmers in climate-smart crop production and pest management, across Sigalow, Wadluhube, Boriyale and Deriburis
- Ran voucher-based emergency animal health treatment for 300 households
- Gave 12 community animal health workers refresher training and replacement veterinary start-up kits, coordinated with the Woreda Livestock Development Office
- Backed the government mass animal vaccination campaign — 101,010 animals vaccinated across the target kebeles
- Mobilised 225 households on drought mitigation and destocking, and linked them to local meat markets
- Built a new hand-dug well in Suftu Kebele with a distribution network, and handed it over to the woreda water office
- Ran community-based hygiene and sanitation promotion reaching 80 households
- Supported 27 vulnerable women with small business grants, entrepreneurship training and continuing mentoring, and linked them to markets and microfinance
- Delivered conditional cash transfers totalling USD 10,620 to 180 vulnerable households, including households with children in acute malnutrition treatment, disbursed through local banks with joint verification
Changed mid-project, on purpose
We moved the water money where it was actually needed
The original plan was to rehabilitate a solar borehole in Boriyale and Wadluhube. During implementation it became clear that another agency was already covering it. Rather than duplicate, we redirected the budget to a new hand-dug well in Suftu Kebele — a community with no equivalent support — connected it to a distribution network and handed it to the woreda water office. It now serves 3,900 people.
Two other planned water activities did not happen: fixing a chlorine doser at the Dollo Ado town treatment plant, and distributing purification chemicals to 100 households. We report that plainly rather than leaving them on a results list.
Results
What it added up to
Herds that survived the season
101,010 animals vaccinated across the target kebeles, benefiting 7,770 households, plus voucher-based treatment for 300 more.
Animal health that stays behind
12 community animal health workers retrained and re-equipped, so treatment does not stop when the project does.
Land back in production
240 farmers with seed, tools, five pumps and 4,400 litres of fuel — and the training to use them against pests and a shifting climate.
Water for 3,900 people
A new hand-dug well and distribution network in Suftu, built and handed to the woreda water office.
27 women trading
Small business grants, training and mentoring, with links to local markets and microfinance institutions.
Cash where it counted most
USD 10,620 to 180 households, prioritising those with children in acute malnutrition treatment.
From the response
Drought response works best before the emergency peaks
Talk to us about pre-positioned drought response in Liban and Afder zones.