Successful community development fund in Ethiopia

The CDF projects in Ethiopia have been found to be more efficient than projects financed by the direct fund support method. In the CDF system the procurement is much faster than in direct fund support and it is done by WATSANCOs (the communities’ water management body) at their locality (woreda). This improves the communities’ capacity to implement their projects but it also improves the supply of material and equipment by the private sector. In CDF projects, the simplified procurement system is in place as a result of training and continuous supervision. Due to the CDF, the efficiency of the Woreda Water Resource Development Team increased. This is clearly indicated by the increased number of water points constructed in one budget year and also the projects are completed in less time (1.5 to 2 months per water point).

Since the CDF introduction in two woredas in 2002 (1996 EFY) , the average implementation of water points per woreda has increased from an average of 25 per year to an average of 54.6 water points in 2005 (1999 EFY) in 10 woredas. This is also translated in the ability to serve 215,000 new users every year keeping up with population growth. The number of applications and requests from communities keeps increasing but some woredas have reached their construction capacity of 2.5 water points per staff per month (considering the construction months are from January to June).

More documents on the Ethiopian water sector are available in the EU Water Initiative (EUWI) Electronic Library for the Ethiopia Country Dialogue.