The impact of climate change on water availability and distribution is causing water scarcity in arid regions across sub-Saharan Africa. As many rural communities depend on rain-fed agriculture as well as streams and rivers as a source of drinking water, increasing temperatures are knocking millions of people into poverty (water, food, and economics).

To help build the adaptive capacity of such communities, GAYO is partnering with LoveSpring to construct mechanized boreholes that will serve the purpose of providing communities with potable
drinking water, as well as, providing irrigation for farming. This effort will be combined with other ecosystem-based adaptation measures such as the use of compost on farmlands to enhance water retention in the soil and tree planting exercises to provide a humid climate to support farming activities.

The first project under the GAYO and LoveSpring partnership was delivered in February 2020 to serve over 100 women in the Kandiga community in the northern part of Ghana who lose productive hours walking over 3 kilometers each day in search of water (see the image of the water source below).

To commemorate the 2020 International Women’s Day, GAYO launched the project together with the community women and children who are most disadvantaged by water scarcity.