Multiple use of the El-same water

El-Same is one of the villages in Odweyne district of Somaliland (Togdheer Region) where World Vision Somalia constructed an earth dam in 2015.

The rationale was to increase income and productivity assets for pastoralists thus allowing them to become resilient to the shocks brought by prevalent dry spells for the last five years.

The earth dam can harvest up to 16000 cubic meters each time there are flash floods. However, the animals in the village access watering from a water trough 400 meters away from the dam walls that keeps livestock away from the dam walls.

Faisal working on the water pump that irrigates his vegetable garden

Besides livestock watering, the water is also used by local farmers to grow horticultural crop varieties like onion, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, water melons and spices.

Faisal Osman Ismail, 32 year old and a father of 4 is one of the subsistence farmers who has benefited from the water being harvested in the earth dam. In the past, vegetables were only accessed in Burco city which is 35km away as there was no water to support any form of gardening.With the earth dam, he is now able to produce his own vegetables.

“I now produce and irrigate my garden with the water from the earth dam which costs less. Before, I used to get my vegetables from Burao city, 35 km away,” says a grateful Faisal.

Tomatoes that Faisal has planted in his garden

Faisal is ambitious and optimistic to scale higher from just producing for his household consumption but rather for selling surplus produce in Burao city.

 Story by


Abdirahman Abdilahi Muse


Senior WASH Communications coordinator

Somaliland