Elafweyn Field Trip 5th to 11th October, 2011

Elafweyn is the second largest town in Sanaag Province and is located 95km Southwest of Erigavo, the capital city of Sanaag Province in Somaliland. First settled in 1940, it became a town in 1972 and officially recognized as a district in 1974. The town has 1600 households and it is estimated each household has an average of 6 people, whichmakes the town's population 9600.

Projects for SMS testing:

I met with beneficiaries of the roof water catchment (tanks), schools and the Community Development Committee.  

1. Roof water catchment – Second phase of tanks for 20 families were completed in May, 2011 and first phase of tank for 20 families were completed in mid 2009.
2. High School - 2 rooms, 90 students
3. Community Development Committee (CDC) – 11 members

Household beneficiaries:

40 families x 6 = 240

+5 (neighbouring families) x 6 (family members) x 40 (household with tanks) = 1200

1200 + 240 = Total of direct beneficiaries 1440

1440 people are direct beneficiaries from water catchment from rain but when there is no rain and tank owners sell water from commercial suppliers, only 240 people from the 40 tank owning families benefit directly and others buy water for affordable price. In latter case, the beneficiaries include all the town residents.

I met with 25 representatives of the 40 water tank beneficiaries, all the students and 8 of the 11 CDC members. The school Headmaster is the only person who is a member of both CDC and water tank beneficiaries and as such, an ideal person to work closely with to monitor the SMS feedbacks. I met the water tank beneficiaries twice, on the 5th and 12th October, 2011. On the 5^th, I met with 8 families but I didn’t have the SMS feedback number and the meeting was informal, just to get an idea of the project, the beneficiaries and how they managed the tanks.

Women are in charge of the everyday management of the tanks and most of them are illiterate. They are used to getting staff to sit down with them to collect their feedback and therefore were keen to talk more than to write an SMS with the detailed feedback we are asking. The level of informality helped me get honest responses from the women, as I went on my own without any formal introduction. One of the beneficiariesconfided that she was keen to participate but can’t write or read! Luckily, her teenage son was in the room and offered to help.

This led to the idea to partner parents and children to collaborate on SMS sending. Parents can ensure the messages have been sent by waiting for an automated reply confirming the SMS is received. Both the parents and children seemed happy with this idea so I incorporated it into my next communication to the beneficiaries in the villages.

In the following days I visited 4 villages, Godcaanood, Kalsheikh, Beerweeson and Gal & Qac, and explained the project and how the SMS works to beneficiaries, Community Development Committees, Village Committee, women beneficiaries (where I felt men were dominating the discussion), school children and school Headmasters. 

The school children and women showed more enthusiasm for the SMS feedback idea more than the men I had met. They seemed happy to be involved in the project and especially to be asked of their opinion.

Lessons from this trip:

1. Writing a concrete message explaining the aim of the project and how the SMS works was not enough. I had to spend considerable amount of time with each group explaining verbally and in detail.
2. As I met more groups, I realized I had to improve my verbal communication and even got one of my colleagues from the Elafweyn office to come along and help with the wording, given the north vs south dialect difference. I felt together we did a better job.
3. With each meeting, communication got easier and clearer. For that reason, I decided to revisit some groups in Elafweyn town to drive the message a bit deeper.
4. To make sure all beneficiaries participate in the project, we have to include students to help illiterate parents and consider voice SMS option.

'Road' to Elafweyn

'Road' to Elafweyn, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

4 hours of hot dry endless land with no trees or sign of life in sight apart from the occassional herd of goats and camels!

My colleague, Louise, and I wondered why anyone would freely choose to live in a place so hard and remote. The best answer we got: "come back in the rainy season to know why"...But wait, you just told me, at best, it rains only 5 months in a year! We figured better to stick with the project than ask about a choice made in the 1940s by the first settlers.

El Af Weyn Well

El Af Weyn Well, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

The name El Af Weyn literally means "A well with big mouth". This Well is the reason people settled in the town originally and their main source of water.

When we visited the town on the 5th of October, that is how little water was left and I was shocked to find people still used the filthy water to wash dishes and cook food!!

El Af Weyn Well

El Af Weyn, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

Somali seasons

1 - Spring (Gu) – March to May, rainy season
2 - Summer (Xagaa) - June to August, windy with occassional showers
3 - Autumn (Deyr) - September to November, a bit cold and dry
4 - Winter (Jilaal) – December to February, very dry and cold

Water tank - Elafweyn Town

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

The aim of this project is to convince beneficiaries to communicate the impact these kinds of projects have had on their lives through SMS feedbacks.

Of the 40 families with water tanks, we have met with 25 and it seemed clear to me that women run the everyday management of the tanks and controlled the business.

They welcomed the idea that they now had a direct contact with DRC, instead of having to go through the local staff at the Elafweyn office. They expressed a strong interest in wanting to communicate their ideas on how they have benefited from the water tanks and that they wanted more tanks to be built for other poor families with no access to clean water. They were also frank enough to admit most of them were illiterate and we are keen to see how the partnership between parents and their children attending local schools will work out in implementing the SMS feedback.

Well Vs Tank water quality

Well Vs Tank water quality, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

The main town Well, as u can see from the first picture, is open and unprotected. When it rains, the water from the town pours into the Well with all the dirt. We don't have results of any test done to the water to check for quality to ensure it is fit for human consuption. Going by the look and smell of the water, it is not fit for human consumption. Currently, majority of the town's residents and their livestock still rely on this water for most of their needs apart from drinking.

Roof water catchment - Elafweyn Town

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

Most of the beneficiaries I have met have expressed their relief at not having to drink the town Well water anymore and how much the tanks have positively impacted on their lives.

The benefits they have listed included:

1- Having access to clean drinking and cooking water
2 - Improvement to their children's health, less cases of eye-infections, less complains by their children about stomach problems
3 - Not having to walk for 30km to fetch water that was too salty to drink
4 - New opportunity to make a living from selling water

Roof water catchment - Elafweyn Town

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

1440 people are direct beneficiaries from water catchment from rain but when there is no rain and tank owners sell water, only 240 people from the 40 tank owning families benefit directly and others buy water for affordable price. In which case, the beneficiaries include all the town residents.

Water tank

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

Elafweyn town population: 1600 households ( x 6 people per household = 9600 individuals). Majority of these people buy water and the very poor families who can't afford water at all, use the dirty water from Elefweyn Well for general use and drinking water is donated by tank owners.

There are 2 different types of tanks but with same capacity.

Water tank - Elafweyn Town

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

One of the women I went to visit at her house to learn about how the water tanks work, was with her teenage son who was in school uniform. I asked him if he could help his mother with the SMS and he seemed to be keen to get involved and help.

So, I got an idea to involve the school and spoke to the headmasters of both schools, middle and high schools. They liked the idea and one particular Headmaster for the middle school, who is also a member of the Community Development Committee, volunteered to help out to encourage and supervise students help their beneficiary parents to send us their feedback on SMS.

Water tank - Elafweyn Town

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

During dry seasons, which is most of the year the family with the Well buys water from commercial water suppliers and sells them to neighbours, including the 5 other families. This is normally arranged in a way that the suppliers deposit the water at the Well and once the family sells the water, pays back the supplier and keeps the profit.

Water tank - Elafweyn Town

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

Water catchment tanks are built outside a selected family’s house and shared by 6 neighbouring families. During rainy season, Spring (Gu), between March and May, when the Wells are full, the 6 families share the water for free.

Average tank capacity is 10,000 littres and a family uses an average of 60 littres per day.

Water tank - Elafweyn Town

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

Once the Well dries up, the nearest source of water for the town is located 30km away in caves and springs but the water is too salty and hard to drink. The alternative source of water is commercially supplied water which costs around USD 5.5 for 20littles, far too expensive for most of the town’s residents.

Water tank - Elafweyn Town

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

When DRC first approached Elafweyn residents and asked what kind of help they needed for the town's development, the residents unanimously agreed on water as their first priority.

They also came up with ideas for how they wanted DRC to help, which was to build them water tanks to catch rain water.

Water catchment tank - Elafweyn Town

Water catchment tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

During Autumn and Winter, it can get very dry and cold to the point where some families move away from the area in search of water and greener pasture to save their livestock. The residents I met with informed me that in the last 3 years, the seasons have been very unpredictable and it has not rained as normal, forcing as much as 300 families from the nearing villages such as Beerweeso to leave in search of water!

Water catchment tank - Elafweyn Town

Water Catchment tanks have so far been built for 40 families. 20 tanks have been completed in May 2011 and  previous 20 tanks completed in mid 2009.
Household beneficiaries:
40 families x 6 = 240
+5 neighbouring families x 6 x 40 = 1200
1200 + 240 =  Total of direct beneficiaries 1440

Water tank, a photo by somcdrd on Flickr.

Brief Elafweyn Town history

Elafweyn is the second largest town in Sanaag Province and is located 95km Southwest of Erigavo, the capital city of Sanaag Province in Somaliland. First settled in 1940, it became a town in 1972 and officially recognized as a district in 1974. It governs 33 villages spread around 12,675 Square km with a total population of 64,000. Elafweyn’s climate is mostly very dry flat arid land with very little water. However, during the rainy season in Spring (Gu), between March and May, the town comes to life with lots of green and waterfalls.

The name Elafweyn literally means "A well with big mouth", which is the reason people settled in the town originally and their main source of water, until DRC built water tanks.

 When DRC first approached the residents in the town and asked what kind of help they needed for the town's development, the residents unanimously agreed on water as their first priority. They also came up with ideas for how they wanted DRC to help, which was to build them water tanks to catch rain water.

 

Population: 1600 households (it is estimated households have an average of 6 people, which makes the town's population 9600)
Economy: Livestock, small businesses, farming, frankincense export.

 Current CDRD Projects in Elafweyn

1. Water catchment – 20 families (completed 2011 May) + previous 20 families(completed 2009).
2. High School - (2 rooms, 90 students)
3. Toilets
4. Revolving fund (given mainly to women to run small businesses)
5. Agriculture tools and seeds
6. Jail

In Elafweyn, we are working with the Water Catchment and School beneficiaries as they are the most recently completed projects and Water Catchment affects all the town's residents. We are also collaborating with the Community Development Committee to help us spread the message.

Partner's profile for SMS feedback

We have selected Elefweyn District in Somaliland to test out the SMS feedback system and have chosen few Community-Driven Recovery and Development Project (CDRD) projects for few reasons:

1. CDRD Coordinator is the person behind the project and supervises the implementation
2. Projects in this district are at different phases and allow us to study which groups at what stage are most likely to respond favourably to the project
3. These are relatively stable communities where members are most likely to own mobile phones and we can assess the beneficiaries’ response to the project better.
4. The 4 villages and Elafweyn city represent different network coverage areas to see how realistic it is for the villages with very little to no network coverage to send us SMSes.

Once this feedback is up and running successfully, the second phase will be to extend it to a select number of families in Mogadishu who are receiving cash relief. The scheduled start date for Mogadishu is 13^th November, 2011, for 6 weeks. We will then decide if it is feasible to roll it out to all the DRC beneficiaries in Somalia/Somaliland.

The beneficiaries are from the following projects and locations:

• Water catchment and high school in Elafweyn Town
• Canal Irrigation in Godcaanood village
• Middle school, public toilets and water tank in Kalsheikh village
• Water tank and revolving fund in Gal iyo Qac village
• Community centre and public toiltes in Beerweeso village

Piloting Accountability Systems for Humanitarian Aid in Somalia

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) recognizes the importance of public access to information for accountability and good governance, and for enabling citizen participation to be meaningful. It plans to address this challenge by harnessing ICTs solutions. The proposed project aims to foster citizen participation, by encouraging citizens to “express their demands, aspirations, engaging in the process of formulation of humanitarian interventions, planning, monitoring and evaluation”.

The overall objective of the proposed project is to contribute to strengthen (the demand-side of) local level governance and community-based organisations. The specific objective is to make interventions from DRC and other humanitarian agencies operating in Somalia more transparent and more responsive to citizen’s views and needs.

The outputs are (a) the establishment of a beneficiary feedback through text messages over mobile phones, and (b) the creation of on-line communities on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and Blog.

For tthe next 12 months, we will keep u posted with developments of the project on this blog and you can follow us on:

Twitter : @DRCSomalia

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SomCDRD
Website: http://www.somcdrd.org/home/
Somaliland SMS feedback number: +252 2 4000919

Our SMS feedback will go live in the next 2 weeks and we will share our findings on the website, look out for the dashboard: http://somcdrd.org/geo/dashboard/

Please feel free to comment, send us your views and join the discussion on humanitarian aid accountability and local governance. We look forward to an interactive and engaging exchange of ideas with you.

Fatuma Abdulahi

Communications Officer for Accountability
accountability@drcsomalia.org