The Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahayan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, based in the United Arab Emirates, has forged an agreement with UNDP Somalia to provide US$2 million to improve water supplies for vulnerable Somalis.
The effort will help returning refugees, people displaced from their homes, pastoral communities in drought-stricken regions and poorer populations in southern Somalia. It will also help set up sustainable water management systems based on the capacities of local communities to build and maintain them, and where feasible through public-private partnerships.
Only one in five Somalis has access to treated water, and only about half the households have a source of water within a kilometre during the dry season, according to a recent Socio-Economic Survey by the World Bank and UNDP.
The signing of this agreement comes as a directive from Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan, President of the UAE, to help alleviate the plight of the Somali people by addressing their dire need for water, noted Salem Obaid Al Dhahiri, the foundation's Acting Director General. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
