(Extract from the Executive Summary) Appropriate water resource development is an important component in ensuring sustainable livelihoods in Mandera District. In order to support planning activities within the water sector, Oxfam Quebec commissioned Rural Focus Ltd. to undertake a water source assessment and mapping assignment in Mandera District. The main objective of the assignment was to establish a GIS based database of water sources and related socio-economic data for Mandera District. A subsequent phase of the exercise was to use the GIS to develop a strategic plan for rehabilitation and management of existing water sources. A team consisting of members of the Pastoral Resource Team (PRT) of Mandera District and Oxfam Quebec assisted m the identification of the types of sources and information required. Data capture forms were developed and two teams covered Mandera District visiting in total 769 water sources. Relevant data for each source, covering the geo-referenced position, capacity, operational status, management system, demand etc. were obtained and entered into a Geographical Information System - (GIS)

This thesis has been carried out with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, who are in the process of developing a GIS-based andNo.8220Land and Water Information System for SomaliaandNo.8221. It is hoped that this thesis will provide some contribution to their work.br Water resources in Somalia must be understood in the most detail, and in the most practical manner, by the Somalis themselves. However, there has been only limited formal characterisation of those water resources, and as a result, this thesis is designed in part to provide a comprehensive overview of the surface water resources of Somalia, particularly the south of the country. This includes analysis of the basic characteristics of both rainfall and stream flowbr The focus of the thesis is on drought, which is an inescapable problem in a climate such as that of Somalia. Various aspects of drought must be considered, and further objectives could thus be outlined as follows:br andNo.8226To consider the problem of drought definition, and put this in the context of water availability in Southern Somaliabr andNo.8226To investigate the techniques available for drought analysis and apply these to Somaliabr andNo.8226To understand the influences on climatological and hydrological variability in Somalia, and thus the factors contributing to droughtbr Characteristics of rainfall and runoff will be considered independently. Similar techniques will be used for both, although some differences exist since rainfall is an intermittent process while the rivers in question are permanent. Analyses of the two water sources will then be compared in order to provide a more complete description.br

The report describes work carried out for FAO Somalia by UK center for ecology and hydrology as part of the emergency project OSRO/SOM/103/ITA and rdquoEstablishment of a water and land information management system fo Somalia to support relief and rehabilitation interventions for flood and irrigation and rdquobetween february and May 2002

Agricultural Support Project (ASP) is designed to address directly the need to improve family capacities to access irrigation water through a cost s h m g arrangement where communities contribute 20% of the cost of a pump. Extension workers from the villages are m e d on land (loaned freely to the community) in the cultivation and husbandry practices learned in phase 1. They gain access to improved seed varieties (grain, vegetables and fruit seedlings) so that they can replicate them on their own farms, The project has also introduced an agricultural training curriculum to local schools