Turning Water Access into Jobs and Livelihoods: Lessons from Barwaaqo in Somalia

For Halwo Shire, a mother living in Kalluun Dacar in Galmudug State, the impact of having access to water is tangible. "Before, we used to walk six kilometers just to find water," says Halwo Shire. "By the time we returned home, we were exhausted, with no time left for anything else."

For families across Somalia's drylands, long journeys in search of water have long shaped daily life. Hours spent collecting water often meant less time for farming, caring for livestock, or earning an income. What begins as a challenge of water access quickly becomes a livelihoods crisis.

Water access means economic opportunity
Barwaaqo, the World Bank-supported Somalia Water for Rural Resilience Project, was designed with this reality in mind. Rather than treating water as a stand-alone service, the project uses reliable water access as a foundation for jobs, income, and long-term resilience in some of Somalia's most fragile environments.

Across project locations, water points are designed to be multi-use, meeting domestic needs while also supporting farming, livestock care, and small-scale local services. By deliberately linking water investments to productive use, Barwaaqo is helping households turn water access into economic opportunity.

By midpoint of the project's implementation, 40 new and rehabilitated multi-use water points were already in place and creating economic activity around a single, reliable source. As water becomes more available, households spend less time managing scarcity and more time investing in productive work.

For Halwo and her family, the impact is practical and immediate. "Before, we collected water from far away and spent much of our income buying it," she explains. "Now the hafir is right next to us. It has made daily life easier, for cooking, sanitation, washing clothes, and bathing."

Starting with communities
A defining feature of Barwaaqo is its community-centered approach. The project brings together expertise from across the World Bank Group, linking water investments with agriculture, livestock services, land restoration, and community planning through risk-aware delivery in a fragile context.

At the center of this approach is the Community Investment Plan (CIP). Through the CIP process, communities themselves decide how water points should support farming, grazing, small businesses, and social needs. This ensures investments respond to real priorities, while strengthening ownership of how water infrastructure is used and maintained.

In fragile and remote areas, this way of working has also made delivery more practical and responsive, allowing progress to continue despite security constraints, access challenges, and climate shocks.

How water supports livelihoods
Barwaaqo is built on a simple idea: water alone does not create jobs, how people use water does.

For farmers, the project focuses on translating water access into productivity. Nearly 70,000 farmers have participated in Farmer Field Schools, learning practical techniques to improve yields, protect soil, and cope with dry conditions.

For pastoral communities, access to animal health services has expanded significantly. To date, more than 630,000 animals have been treated, helping protect livestock-the main source of income for many households in Somalia's drylands.

Women are playing a central role in this transformation. They make up 31 percent of trained Community Animal Health Workers, strengthening both inclusion and local service delivery while creating new income opportunities.

Adapting and learning in fragile drylands
Working in fragile and conflict-affected environments demands flexibility. Barwaaqo adapts continuously responding to security constraints, climate shocks, and access challenges as they arise.

"Working in a fragile context like Somalia demands adaptability," says Raghava Neti, Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, World Bank Group and Task Team Leader for the Barwaaqo Project. "What gives us confidence is not just the reach, with over half a million people targeted, but government institutions learning to work alongside communities, and locally tailored operation and maintenance arrangements that will keep these assets functioning long after the project closes."

By staying close to communities and allowing flexibility in how activities are sequenced and delivered, the project has maintained momentum without sacrificing quality. Community planning, paired with adaptive supervision and learning, has helped sustain results even in high-risk areas.

These experiences are also generating lessons beyond Somalia. Through erosion control, land restoration, and improved grazing management, pressure on water infrastructure has been reduced. More than 2,000 hectares are now under improved land management, helping sustain water availability over time. Basin-level planning has also allowed water points to be located more strategically for shared resource management.

From water access to everyday livelihoods
Reliable water is doing more than meeting basic needs. It is supporting income-earning activities, creating local jobs, strengthening the role of women, and building resilience in communities repeatedly exposed to drought and shocks.

Barwaaqo shows that when water investments are deliberately designed for productive use and guided by communities, they can become a pathway to work, income, and renewed hope, even in the most fragile settings.