On October 31st Woord en Daad and the Dutch Water Authorities launched a new product: The Awash Basin Platform. An interactive map that offers the possibility to scroll through the river basin of the Awash River in Ethiopia. With the presentation of the map, a journey begins and changes come to life. Video’s, 360 degree views, stories and information bring the area, the projects and the people who live there nearby.
Background
The 1,250 kilometer long Awash River is a lifeline for millions of people and the river basin is used intensively. Because of increasing industrialization and intensive agriculture, the river basin is of great importance for the economy of Ethiopia. However, the last few years saw increasing pollution and pressure on the water supply. People are affected by floods as well as droughts. This results in losses and increasing tension for the people in the area.
Several projects in the Awash River Basin strive for improved water management, water quality and access to water in the river basin. Two of these projects are the WaterPricing project of Woord en Daad and the Blue Deal project of the Dutch Water Authorities. Several actors are involved in these projects, such as the Ethiopian government, private companies and water authorities. The ultimate aim of these projects is for inhabitants of the Awash River Basin to benefit again from the available water and for the ecosystem of the river to recover.
A unique collaboration
From the collaboration between Woord en Daad and the Dutch Water Authorities the idea was born to bring the work along the Awash River together on an interactive map. In collaboration with the project teams in Ethiopia and photographer Jilke Tanis, materials are collected from the projects that show the progress, the scale and the impact of the projects. To this end, there is collaboration with colleagues from communication as well as from monitoring and evaluation. Technical indicators are visualized, people are followed for a long period of time and pictures tell their own story. The platform is available in two languages, by the end of 2019 this will also include Amharic and Oromiva, the languages spoken in the project area. So from that moment, the platform can serve as a source of information on the work along the river within Ethiopia.