The effects of climate change and overgrazing pose a risk to the communities in Magalo-cad, Western Somaliland, who are reliant upon farming and livestock to survive.
Years of shifting rainfall patterns, often attributed to climate change, continue to wreak havoc with traditional farming practices, thus threatening livelihoods across the region. ACTED worked with over 800 families to help restore land which had become uncultivable due to both climatic conditions and poor management practices.
Recurrent droughts and floods are a deadly combination for agriculture, weakening the soil structure and flushing away the elements which make land cultivable.
However, there are ways to prevent this.
To protect the livelihoods of the communities of Magalo-cad, ACTED worked with community members to create ‘Earthworks.’ The term refers to a range of techniques through which reduce the speed of rainwater runoff and soil infiltration, thus leading to lower rates of soil erosion.
Communities have created earthworks which limit desertification and increase food production. The benefits of this will be made apparent after the next rainy season. ACTED’s REVIVE program provided beneficiaries with immediate and longer-term solutions to food insecurity in Magalo-Cad, through the creation of swales.
Creating these earthworks also represented a form of short term paid employment for community members, providing families with the financial means and flexibility to purchase goods to meet household needs.
Before ACTED started the project my life was tough and I was not able to provide three meals a day for my children. Luckily I was selected as one of the beneficiaries, and I am now able to feed my children sufficiently. I can also afford to buy clothes as well and take them to school.
ACTED’s Regenerative Earthworks and Vegetation In Vulnerable Ecosystem (REVIVE) approach aims to support agro-pastoralists in the region while simultaneously halting desertification. You can read more about this approach here.
Sending 13 children to school was very difficult especially when you don’t have sufficient income to manage the needs of the family. However, my life has changed when ACTED started the project and I was selected as a cash for work beneficiaries. (…). I was able to buy uniforms and pay school fees for my children; and clear my debt. I am thankful for the support given by ACTED through the funding of SDC for improving our lives.