GroFutures: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lead Research Organisation: Institute of Development Studies
Department Name: Research Department

Abstract

The Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures) project will assemble an inter-disciplinary team of highly experienced physical and social scientists from Africa and Europe to generate new scientific evidence and methods to enable groundwater to be used sustainably and equitably tom improve the lives of poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by way of improved access to safe water for drinking and domestic purposes as well as water for agricultural production. As SSA is a region of small-scale farmers, sustainable year-round access to water for agriculture is a core component of poverty alleviation strategies in this region. GroFutures also recognises the importance of protecting the quantity and quality of groundwater discharges that sustain rivers, lakes and wetlands and the benefits (e.g. fish, hydropower) derived from these.

Under a one-year catalyst grant, the GroFutures Team will work with government water ministries in Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania to conduct a series of pilot studies characterising and quantifying seasonal changes in groundwater demand under a range of potential development options including increased use of groundwater for irrigation as well as urban and rural water supplies in selected basins. Indicative changes in groundwater supply by way of rain-fed groundwater replenishment (recharge) will also be evaluated under this pilot research by examining relationships between climate and groundwater recharge in semi-arid (central Tanzania) and seasonally humid (northern Uganda) environments where long-term observational records exist. The evaluation will focus on observed recharge responses to changes in the intensity of rainfall that is projected to increase in a warmer world, under these contrasting climate regimes.

A significant innovation of the research conducted under this catalyst grant is the development and trial of a new metric of water availability that, for the first time, explicitly considers groundwater resources. Water availability will be redefined in terms of water storage requirements, be it natural (e.g. groundwater) or constructed (e.g. surface reservoirs), that are required to address imbalances between water supply and demand. As such, the metric will directly inform water management including sustainable allocations of groundwater. Because access to groundwater often disfavours poor water users, GroFutures will investigate pathways to enhance the governance and management of groundwater that recognise and support access of the poor to groundwater.

The interdisciplinary GroFutures Team is uniquely qualified to undertake the proposed research. It has conducted pioneering research evaluating factors that influence groundwater demand and supply and, as such, possesses invaluable long-term and detailed datasets as well as an acute understanding of the national development plans required to develop robust projections and scenarios of the future with which to determine the sustainability of groundwater resources in different settings. Having enjoyed long-term collaborations with government ministries who are project partners, the team is also able to review critical questions of groundwater governance and management.

Another key attribute of the GroFutures proposal is the holding of a pan-African workshop which will enable a rare opportunity for scientists in Anglophone and Francophone Africa to share their experiences and expertise. Scientists and government stakeholders in the GroFutures project will run the workshop jointly with a Francophone network of researchers, PICASS'EAU, from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, and Nigeria as well as potentially other UPGro Consortia and several invited international scientists who will examine the wider applicability of GroFutures pilot-study results to SSA and inform research to be proposed under a subsequent large, inter-disciplinary consortium proposal to the UPGro programme.

Planned Impact

GroFutures will benefit: (1) poor people (including women) in SSA through the increased and disseminated knowledge and evidence on positive outcomes from groundwater development for health and livelihoods enabling poverty alleviation; (2) water planners and policy makers in SSA through the development of evidence and methodologies to quantify groundwater demand and supply through recharge thereby enabling equitable and sustainable use of groundwater resources; and (3) national and regional research communities in SSA through an improved networking and information exchanges as well as ultimately by way of improved knowledge, evidence and tools to develop and manage groundwater resources equitably and sustainably.

The primary pathway by which the GroFutures catalyst project will generate impacts for poor people in sub-Saharan Africa is through the development of evidence and tools which water managers in the focal countries can (a) target groundwater development where it can most effectively reduce poverty, and (b) ensure equitable and sustainable development of groundwater resources.

GroFutures will contribute to unlocking the poverty-reducing potential of groundwater in SSA by:
1) generating new evidence on groundwater availability and demand, including insights into how these are likely to change over the next two to three decades giving planners at basin, national and regional levels the information they need to plan for an equitable and sustainable allocation of groundwater, for multiple users and uses;
2) Identifying locations and circumstances in which groundwater development (for domestic supply or irrigation) is a feasible strategy to reduce poverty;
3) Identifying areas where groundwater is at risk of future depletion due to likely demand/supply imbalances enabling management responses to be developed on a preventive rather than curative basis;
4) Providing specific information on the seasonal variations of water availability and demand which can carry high costs for economies and for the livelihoods of poor people and make planning and management difficult;
5) Piloting a new tool (water availability metric incorporating groundwater storage) which planners can use to assess groundwater futures in their basin;
6) Strengthening the capacity of water planners through co-production of knowledge and collaborative, demand-based research and piloting;
7) Identifying governance options for pro-poor, sustainable groundwater management, in collaboration with water managers and other key stakeholders; and
8) Disseminating evidence and knowledge on the positive outcomes of groundwater development for health and livelihoods enabling poverty alleviation.

The GroFutures team will engage staff of national, regional and local water bureaux in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania as project partners from the start in the research planning, data analysis and tool/metric development and piloting. They will also embed new scientific knowledge, models and methods for managing groundwater for poverty alleviation within water ministries to inform decision-making and initiate discussions about equity in groundwater development among relevant stakeholders. Findings and methods will also be actively shared with a West African initiative on groundwater in West Africa, PICASS'EAU, for impact outside the study countries.

Production and dissemination of high quality, open-source publications - in the form of academic outputs in high impact journals, as well as targeted policy briefs and other bespoke communications materials suited to different audiences - will be a central aim of the project. These will be co-authored by African and UK-based collaborators and published in English, as well as Amharic and Swahili, where appropriate. The materials will be posted on a dedicated Groundwater Futures webpage of the ESRC-STEPS Centre (www.steps-centre.org), with links to the websites of other key partner organisations.

Publications

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Goldin J (2021) Diamonds on the Soles of Their Feet: Groundwater Monitoring in the Hout Catchment, South Africa in Journal of Education for Sustainable Development

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Jasechko S (2015) Intensive rainfall recharges tropical groundwaters in Environmental Research Letters

 
Description Among other things, this project assessed current and projected groundwater demand by season and under specific policy scenarios (e.g. expansion in irrigated agriculture, increased access to safe water) in several study river basins in Ethiopia (Shebelle Basin), Ghana (Atankwidi and Anayere Basins), Tanzania (WamiRuvu Basin) and Uganda (Aroca Basin) and analysed total and currently renewable groundwater storage in basin study areas.

Importantly, we engaged with basin authorities and national groundwater agencies to discuss changing supply and demand scenarios and their policy implications.
Exploitation Route We have begun to assemble an international consortium of scientists with an unmatched track record of groundwater research and stakeholder engagement in Africa.

We have also been able to leverages substantial additional investment (£461k) through linkages with partners in France to contribute to a new UPGro Consortium grant on 'Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa'

We have begun to establish a 'Network of African Groundwater Observatories' (NAGO), even before we have formally received funding from UPGro or other sources.

We have created a network has is collating a set of over 25 time-series of multi-decadal, groundwater-level observations across Africa. The analysis of these data will enable the most rigorous assessment of the relationships among climate, land-use and groundwater recharge ever conducted in the region.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Communities and Social Services/Policy

Environment

URL https://upgro.org/catalyst-projects/grofutures1/
 
Description This evidence and the interactions with key policy actors informed the design and development of a larger Consortium grant which was submitted to UPGro in 2014. This has now been approved and a new multi-partner project entitled 'Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa', which began 2014 and ran until 2019/2020. This larger project has then informed a set of initiatives supported by UK FCDO and the Canadian IDRC and related to the Climate Resilience and Adaptation Programme (CLARE). The new research started in late 2023 and extends the GroFutures research with many of the same partners in Niger/Nigeria and Tanzania, while including new partners in India.
First Year Of Impact 2014
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment
Impact Types Societal

Economic

Policy & public services

 
Description Field Guide on Participatory Research for Identifying and Analysing Groundwater Development Pathways
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Africa Capacity Building Initiative
Amount £1,186,000 (GBP)
Funding ID AQ140023 
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2015 
End 12/2019
 
Description African Groundwater Atlas - Phase II - UPGro Programme
Amount £3,622,077 (GBP)
Funding ID NE/M008347/1 
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2017 
End 03/2019
 
Description Banking the Rain: enhancing the resilience of water supplies in dryland Africa
Amount £92,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 172313 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2016 
End 03/2017
 
Description Danida (ESGUSA Project)
Amount 870,000 kr. (DKK)
Funding ID 17-M10-KU 
Organisation University of Copenhagen 
Sector Academic/University
Country Denmark
Start 03/2018 
End 09/2020
 
Description Enhancing Sustainable Groundwater Use in Africa - Phase 2
Amount 90,000 kr. (DKK)
Organisation University of Copenhagen 
Sector Academic/University
Country Denmark
Start 03/2022 
End 02/2025
 
Description Grant for groundwater survey in the Nigerian part of the Iullemmeden Basin for students of UNIMAID
Amount € 1,500 (EUR)
Organisation Institute of Development Research (IRD) 
Sector Academic/University
Country France
Start 03/2017 
End 06/2017
 
Description Royal Society - Leverhulme Trust Senior Fellowship
Amount £51,000 (GBP)
Funding ID LT170004 
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2017 
End 09/2018
 
Description Scholarship (GroFutures Research Assistantship)
Amount £1,200,000 (XOF)
Organisation Abdou Moumouni University 
Sector Academic/University
Country Niger
Start 08/2017 
End 09/2019
 
Description The Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Fellowships
Amount £150,000 (GBP)
Funding ID LT170004 
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2017 
End 08/2018
 
Description UN SDGs: Pathways to Achievement scheme, 2021-22 - Advancing and sustaining progress towards UN SDGs in African drylands - crossing disciplinary and international boundaries
Amount £10,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 556298 
Organisation University College London 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2022 
End 07/2022
 
Description USAID (GRECHLIM Project)
Amount $90,000 (USD)
Funding ID AID-OAA-A-11-00012 / 2000006305 
Organisation International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country Sri Lanka
Start 01/2016 
End 12/2018
 
Title Water-Table Fluctuation Method 
Description Analytical tool for groundwater-level time series data analysis 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The analytical tool for groundwater-level time series data analysis is currently available to GroFutures project members and researchers who received training on the research tool in February 2017 in a training workshop organised by GroFutures. 
 
Title Long-term groundwater-level anomalies across Sub-Saharan Africa 
Description Multi-decadal time series of groundwater levels were compiled by the authors from records of observation wells initiated and maintained by government departments and research institutions in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The pan-African collation of these hydrographs was initiated at the 41st Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) in Marrakech (Morocco) on 14th September 2014. All records were subjected to a rigorous review by the authors during which the integrity, continuity, duration and interpretability of records were evaluated. This process included dedicated workshops in Benin, Tanzania, and Uganda, and records failing these tests were discarded from the analysis. Procedures included taking of the first time derivative to identify anomalous spikes in records commonly associated with errors of data-entry. Where multiple records in same geographic and climate zone were available (e.g. Benin, South Africa) we prioritized records remote from potential areas of intensive abstraction. Statistical clustering of records was also used in the Limpopo Basin of South Africa to identify the representativity of employed records at Modderfontein and Sterkloop. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The development of this research database is allowing, for the first time, a continent-wide analysis of the impacts of groundwater use, climate variability and change, and land-use change on groundwater storage across Africa. 
URL http://www.un-igrac.org/special-project/chronicles-consortium
 
Description African Groundwater Atlas - Phase II - Institute of Development Studies Support to the Social Science Component of the African Water Atlas in Partnership with the British Geological Survey 
Organisation British Geological Survey
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Developed 20 social science case studies of groundwater development in Africa. These have now been added to the AGWA website.
Collaborator Contribution Sharing contacts, refining content and promoting the African Groundwater Atlas.
Impact The social science case studies were added to the AGWA website to provide real-world examples of groundwater development and use in different contexts to complement the mainly physical science material on the site.
Start Year 2017
 
Description GRECHLIM: Groundwater Recharge in the Limpopo Basin 
Organisation US Geological Survey
Country United States 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution GroFutures research team members, Karen Villholth and Tamiru Abiye, have developed this partnership funded by USAID and involving the US Geological Survey allied to GroFutures research in the Limpopo Basin of South Africa.
Collaborator Contribution The GRECHLIM Project collaborate with the following main partners: Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), South Africa, Department of Water Affairs (DWA), Botswana, Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM), Water Research Commission (WRC), South Africa, Southern African Development Community (SADC), and University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Impact The project has so far supported field work for three MSc students from the University of Witwatersrand. Two of these students have submitted their theses for examination at the end of February 2017, while the third student has started field work in March 2017. We are expecting more MSc students to join the project team during the course of the year. Furthermore, the project also provided training for PhD and MSc student from both South Africa and Botswana on groundwater recharge estimation techniques on 11-12 October 2016 at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Groundwater model for Dendron/ Hout catchment has been developed to understand the groundwater use and recharge dynamics. Furthermore, independent groundwater recharge estimation using geochemical and stable isotope techniques is in progress. Therefore, we believe that these information could contribute for the development of better groundwater management plan in the basin.
Start Year 2015
 
Description GroFutures: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa 
Organisation Addis Ababa University
Country Ethiopia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution NERC/ESRC/DFID Grants (Ref. NE/L002043/1; NE/M008932/1), GroFutures: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa, has been awarded as a result of a consortium developed under the project.
Collaborator Contribution Partners contributed to the development of the successful NERC/ESRC/DFID Catalyst and Programme Grant Proposals.
Impact NERC/ESRC/DFID Grants (Ref. NE/L002043/1; NE/M008932/1), GroFutures: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa, has been awarded as a result of a consortium developed under the project.
Start Year 2013
 
Description GroFutures: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa 
Organisation Sokoine University of Agriculture
Country Tanzania, United Republic of 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution NERC/ESRC/DFID Grants (Ref. NE/L002043/1; NE/M008932/1), GroFutures: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa, has been awarded as a result of a consortium developed under the project.
Collaborator Contribution Partners contributed to the development of the successful NERC/ESRC/DFID Catalyst and Programme Grant Proposals.
Impact NERC/ESRC/DFID Grants (Ref. NE/L002043/1; NE/M008932/1), GroFutures: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa, has been awarded as a result of a consortium developed under the project.
Start Year 2013
 
Description The Chronicles Consortium 
Organisation Institute of Development Research (IRD)
Country France 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Chronicles Consortium is an international consortium of scientists from (currently) 12 countries across Africa and beyond collating and analysing multi-decadal records of groundwater levels, representing long-term aquifer dynamics, in order to assess the impacts of groundwater use, climate variability and change, and land-use change on groundwater storage across Africa. It is a joint initiative of the African Groundwater Network (AGW-Net), IAH Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change, and UNESCO-IHP GRAPHIC programme that is supported by the UPGro (Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor) programme of the UK government (DFID, NERC, ESRC) and the French government (IRD).
Collaborator Contribution The consortium was established at the 41st Congress of the IAH (International Association of Hydrogeologists) in Marrakech, Morocco on 14 September 2014 and is led by Guillaume Favreau (IRD, France), and Richard Taylor (University College London, UK).
Impact Collation and analysis of multi-decadal groundwater-level records from 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa; special sessions at the 41st, 42nd and 43rd Congresses of the IAH; a training and knowledge co-production workshop (http://grofutures.org/article/pan-african-groundwater-level-analysis-and-training-workshop/) leading to high-profile research papers (in review at Nature) and special section of a international peer-reviewed journal, HydrogeologyJournal (https://link.springer.com/journal/10040/topicalCollection/AC_e3c0faa5b3f6346668bc822aa431123d).
Start Year 2015
 
Description UPGro Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and British Geological Survey (BGS) Collaboration 
Organisation British Geological Survey
Department Geomagnetism Group
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution New partnership between the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), which is a co-PI on Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures) has formed to provide key social science elements to the further development of the African Groundwater Atlas (https://upgro.org/africa-groundwater-atlas/), with support from NERC-ESRC-DFID through the 'Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor' (UPGro) programme. GroFutures will provide key social science information to this newly established collaboration.
Collaborator Contribution British Geological Survey (BGS) has already developed the African Groundwater Atlas that is publicly available (https://www.bgs.ac.uk/africagroundwateratlas/) and provides a summary of geological and hydrogeological environments of 51 African countries in Africa. The newly established collaboration will further enrich the African Groundwater Atlas by including critical social science elements for sustainable groundwater development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Impact No outputs or outcomes have yet resulted from this collaboration.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Water stressed cities: individual choice, access to water and pathways to resilience in sub-Saharan Africa 
Organisation Cardiff University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaboration between Professor Japhet Kashaigili (GroFutures co-PI @ Sokoine University of Agriculture) and Dr. Adrian Healey at Cardiff for a project titled: Water stressed cities: individual choice, access to water and pathways to resilience in sub-Saharan Africa funded by UKRI (2021-2023).
Collaborator Contribution Collaboration between Professor Japhet Kashaigili (GroFutures co-PI @ Sokoine University of Agriculture) and Dr. Adrian Healey at Cardiff for a project titled: Water stressed cities: individual choice, access to water and pathways to resilience in sub-Saharan Africa funded by UKRI (2021-2023).
Impact Multi-disciplinary collaboration (hydrogeology and behavioural science) between Professor Japhet Kashaigili (GroFutures co-PI @ Sokoine University of Agriculture) and Dr. Adrian Healey at Cardiff for a project titled: Water stressed cities: individual choice, access to water and pathways to resilience in sub-Saharan Africa funded by UKRI (2021-2023).
Start Year 2020
 
Title Data Input Programme for The Groundwater Game 
Description The Groundwater Game is a spreadsheet-based simulation designed to give players a basic understanding of groundwater resource management at the village level through testing different development strategies under various governance scenarios. The game contrasts practices that can lead to cooperation and collective action versus those that result in a tragedy of the commons. This 'serious game' was developed by the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC), The Netherlands, in partnership with the Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures) project of the UK NERC-ESRC-DFID-funded Unlocking the Potential of Groundwater for the Poor (UPGro) Programme. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, has been leading the social science elements of GroFutures and working with IGRAC to refine the game and facilitate a set of engagement activities in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Niger, using the Groundwater Game to open up discussions with key stakeholders on 'groundwater development pathways'. Previously, the game had some technical limitations that restrict its broader applicability. IGRAC has commissioned IDS to assist with addressing one of the main constraints in the current game set-up: streamlining data input provided by players to the Game Manager (GM). Programming was done to improve network connectivity between the GM's computer and players' devices (using laptops or mobile phones running Android software). This allowed the exchange of data through a server either running locally on the GM's own PC. A prototype was developed in early 2020 to: 1. Connect a Router to the GM's PC to run a local Wi-Fi network for the game (low-cost Wi-Fi routers are available for less than €40). 2. Develop an Account Management System (AMS) for the server to handle player logins. 3. Create a Data Management System (DMS) that would accept player data input, update the Excel spreadsheet and keep the GM informed of the status of players' data input for each round of the game. 4. Develop a Custom App to enable players to log in to the server, enter and send data and display information from the server using their PCs or mobile Android devices (in this first phase, we did not develop the app for Apple devices, as this would require additional programming and development). This set up requires participants at a typical Groundwater Game workshop to have Android phones to send and receive data and the GM to have a Windows PC with a relatively recent version of Excel installed. It also requires a basic Wi-Fi router to connect the phones to the GM's PC via the game App. Assuming these technologies are available, set-up time to connect the devices should be quick and relatively straightforward. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact The Groundwater Futures team has successfully used earlier, spreadsheet-based versions of The Groundwater Game in multi-stakeholder workshops in our Basin Observatories in Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania as a means of breaking the ice and introducing concepts such as 'groundwater development pathways', sustainable groundwater management, and 'regulation from above and below'. We believe this new version will be a significant improvement on the previous ones as it will accelerate the game cycle and focus players' attention more on their tactics and strategies rather than game modalities. The new Data Input prototype will be tested in a number of training situations with post-graduate students in the UK in late March / April 2020. After the new version is finalised, IGRAC will make it available through its website. 
 
Description African Ministerial Council on Water - Africa Water and Sanitation Week 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact GroFutures led and presented in three conference sessions at the AMCOW Africa Water and Sanitation Week 2021

Under what conditions are groundwater resources resilient to climate change? (PI Taylor)
• Groundwater replenishment from flood discharges in central Tanzania: sustaining Dodoma's water supply (co-PI Kashaigili)
• Sustaining groundwater withdrawals in SE Niger from episodic flows of the transboundary River Goulbi de Maradi (co-PI Nazoumou)
• Groundwater recharge from heavy rainfall in the southwestern Lake Chad Basin: evidence from isotopic observations (co-I Goni)
Putting Groundwater on the pan-African Agenda for Resilience and Sustainable Socioeconomic Transformation (co-PIs Villholth, MacDonald)
Managed Aquifer Recharge and its role in climate change resilience in Africa (co-PI Villholth)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://amcow-online.org/events/join-amcow-at-the-world-water-week-2021
 
Description GROFUTURES INCEPTION WORKSHOP IN ADDIS ABABA 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Some 25 social and physical scientists from 12 participating organisations in 11 different countries met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to kick-off the GroFutures project. The GroFutures team began the workshop with a field trip to the Upper Awash Basin to assess changing patterns of groundwater management and use. Team members then worked together to review integrated physical and social science research plans in the 3 focal 'Basin Observatories' comprising the Upper Awash (Ethiopia), Great Ruaha (Tanzania), and Iullemmeden (Niger/Nigeria).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://grofutures.org/article/grofutures-launched-at-inception-workshop-in-addis-ababa/
 
Description GroFutures Great Ruaha Basin Stakeholder Inception Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Sokoine University of Agriculture of Tanzania hosted the GroFutures Great Ruaha Basin Inception Workshop in Iringa on March 31st 2016. It was opened by the District Commissioner for Iringa, Hon. Richard Kasesela, and was attended by national, basin-level and local stakeholders (listed below) who discussed current groundwater use and management in the Great Ruaha Sub-Catchment of the Rufiji Basin and as well as both proposed and potential groundwater development pathways that might best reduce poverty. The event was featured on national television news in Tanzania (see clip here) and leading newspapers (The Guardian, Mwananchi).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://grofutures.org/article/grofutures-launch-in-tanzania/
 
Description GroFutures Upper Awash Basin Stakeholder Inception Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact GroFutures Ethiopian team led by Prof. Tenalem Ayenew hosted an inception workshop held at Addis Ababa on July 9, 2016. The workshop was attended by national and local level stakeholders from ministries (Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources) zonal and wereda-level water, mineral, agriculture offices, Awash River basin and oromia irrigation development authorities, and zonal and wereda level administrations.
Richard Taylor, lead principal investigator of the groundwater futures project, opened the workshop pointing out the importance of understanding and managing the available groundwater for drinking and especially, sustainable irrigated agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. He added, grofutures project is seeking to improve the understanding and management of groundwater resources under the changing climate and development practices through answering questions regarding how much groundwater is available, how much water is accessible and how much is renewable. He also demonstrates, how important it would be to understand the tradeoffs and opportunities of intensive groundwater use and to answer critical questions including what role do the irrigation officers and local farmers get in the discussion of future groundwater development and use. He wrapped up the opening of the workshop by stating that grofutures is about knowledge generation to substantially improve understanding of replenishment of the groundwater resource and how it behaves in the future as a function of climate change, change in land use land cover and trends of groundwater use.
A number of discussion points both from the physical science grofutures team (Prof. Tenalem and Ato Behailu) and social science team (John Thompson, Moutuma and Birhanu) were presented and thoroughly discussed by the participants. The physical science team presented the physical environment of Upper Awash basin with particular emphasis to Becho and Koka plane, which are focal areas of the grofutures research in the Upper Awash basin. Methodology of groundwater assessment, data availability, preliminary results and next work plan have been presented. Water quality assessment, within the context of the grofutures objective were raised to be incorporated by the participants.
Besides, wereda level field survey on population growth, population density, irrigation area, land use and land cover, types, characteristics and ownership of shallow wells and water extraction technologies were presented by the social science team. After important reflections which will enrich the theme of the project were gathered from the participants, Prof. John Thompson, lead investigator of the social component of the groundwater futures project, concluded aspect of the social presentation by emphasizing the importance of identifying groundwater development pathways in the course of grofutures research period, which enable us move from narrow set of 'groundwater roads' to a wider set of possible groundwater futures that are more proper, sustainable and bring about large scale benefits to poverty reduction and improvements in wellbeing.
Group discussions on two key points: 1. the key opportunities (physical, socioeconomic and political) and threats to improving GW management in Upper Awash basin for alleviating poverty and improving livelihoods and 2. the current and projected uses of groundwater for agricultural water supplies (e.g. crops, livestock's) created a ground to exchange ideas among stake holders. Important thinking and finding generated from the group discussions were presented for the attendants.
Finally, as the nature of the project is multidisciplinary integrating social and natural science, the need to have a platform for the different stakeholders to exchange information were raised. The grofutures team and leaders of the project thank the participants for their insight during the discussions and willingness to cooperate in the future.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description GroFutures transboundary Iullemmeden Basin Stakeholder Inception Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact GroFutures Iullemmeden Basin Stakeholder Workshop was held at Abdou Moumouni University (UAM) of Niamey in Niger on 23rd August 2016. The workshop was opened by the Vice Chancellor, Hon. Professor Amadou Boureima, and welcomed by the Director General of Water Resources in the Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation of Niger, Mr. Abdou Moumouni Moussa; Engineer Koné Soungalo representing the Niger Basin Authority; Dr. Oumarou Malam Issa, Country Representative of IRD in Niger; and the Deans of Faculties of Sciences and Agronomy (UAM). The workshop was hosted by the GroFutures team from UAM (Professor Yahaya Nazoumou, Dr. Ouassa Tiekoura), the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria (Professor Ibrahim Baba Goni, Dr. Shettima Abba Gana), and IRD (Dr. Guillaume Favreau). Over 40 participants participated and included representatives from agricultural cooperatives (Coopérative périmètre irrigué in Maradi, Coopérative agricole in Gaya), regional (Maradi, Dosso) and national offices of the Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation, and local universities (Mardi, Diffa).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://grofutures.org/article/grofutures-launch-in-transboundary-iullemmeden-basin/
 
Description ISARM (International Shared Aquifer Resources Management) 2nd Conference - UNESCO-IHP (France) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact At the ISARM 2nd Conference, presentations were given by GroFutures Research Assistant Boukari (Niger): "Transboundary groundwater recharge in a dryland environment: evidence from the River Goulbi de Maradi Basin in Niger and Nigeria" (Boukari) and GroFutures Research Assistant Rabilou (Niger): "Groundwater discharge to the River Niger from a large paleochannel estimated from surface geophysics in the Iullemmeden Basin of Niger and Nigeria" as well as GroFutures co-PI Villholth: "Transboundary Aquifer Governance in the Context of Transfrontier Conservation Areas - An opportunity for synergy in the Southern African Development Community"
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.isarm2021.org/
 
Description International Conference on Lake Chad 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The international conference on environmental challenges faced by the Lake Chad Basin in West Africa. The conference was attended by politicians, and the head of states from Niger, Nigeria, Gabon, Central African Republic and Chad.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://lcbconference2017.ng/english/index.php
 
Description Multi Sectoral Forum for Water Resources Management 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Discussed future planning for sustainable groundwater governance in Tanzania
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Nigerian Association of Hydrogeologists Annual Meeting 2021 - Katsina, Nigeria 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentations delivered by GroFutures Research Assistant Rabilou (Niger): "Groundwater discharge to the Niger River from a large Quaternary valley estimated from subsurface geophysics in the Iullemmeden Basin" and GroFutures Research Assistant Boukari (Niger): "Groundwater/Surface water relationship in the transboundary basin Goulbi de Maradi: evidence from well hydrographs, and MRS and TDEM Soundings"
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://nah-nigeria.org/#/event-details/NAH-32nd-Annual-Conference-2021
 
Description Pan-African Groundwater-level (Chronicles) Training Workshop in Morogoro,Tanzania 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The UPGro programme, supported by AfriWatSan & ESPRC, conducted a pan-African capacity-strengthening and knowledge co-production workshop at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania from the 10th to 12th of February, 2017. 40 participants from 12 countries in Africa took part and analysed multi-decadal, groundwater-level data ("chronicles") from 9 countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, Sénégal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Participants comprised PhD students and more experienced researchers (mentors & supervisors) as well as representatives from government ministries and the private sector, and included team members from all 5 UPGro consortium projects GroFutures, BRAVE, Hidden Crisis, GroForGood, and T-Group. Training focused on the application of the water table fluctuation method for analysing groundwater-level records and was led by GroFutures and The Chronicles Consortium, an international consortium of scientists from across Africa and beyond collating and analysing multi-decadal records of groundwater levels in order to assess the impacts of groundwater use, climate variability and change, and land-use change on groundwater storage across Africa. In addition to addressing key capacity-strengthening goals, the workshop provided a platform for the co-production of knowledge. As a result, a collaborative, pan-African analysis of multi-decadal groundwater-level records is in preparation and a number of participants is expected to contribute their national-scale analyses to an upcoming special section of Hydrogeology Journal.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://grofutures.org/article/pan-african-groundwater-level-analysis-and-training-workshop/
 
Description Tanzania 2nd SUA (Sokoine University of Agriculture) Scientific Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Presentation by PI Taylor delivered to policymakers and practitioners: Focused groundwater recharge to the Makutapora Wellfield of central semi-arid Tanzania: empirical evidence to inform Managed Aquifer Recharge
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.sua.ac.tz/events/2nd-sua-scientific-conference-25th-26th-may-2021
 
Description Unleashing Agricultural Potential, SAGCOT Annual Forum 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact A decision was made collectively on the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater as a solution to declining surface water availability
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description VPO Task Force on Restoration of Great Ruaha Flows 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Recognised the role of groundwater water in augmenting surface water supply
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017