Report of the Scoping Visits in Dulessa and Mille Woredas, Afar Region

This report presents findings of the inception phase of the Economic and Social Research Council's supported research 'Water Security in Ethiopia and the Emotional Response of Pastoralists' (WEEP), led by Cranfield University in collaboration with IRC Ethiopia, the International Water Management Institute and Oxfam Ethiopia. Two field visits, hosted by staff of FSA, were made to the research's selected pastoralists: the Afar. The purpose was to improve the understanding to inform the project's methodology and to prepare the site selection. John Butterworth and his IRC team and Ato Guret Ahmed Executive Director of Friendship Support Association (FSA) prepared the following itinerary from 10-14 October by the entire team. Later, from 1 – 4 November, Abinet Kedebe visited Mille Woreda for the same purposes, also with support by FSA.

The Cranfield University and IWMI teams gratefully acknowledges IRC's, Oxfam's, and FSA's excellent support to the very insightful field trip. The following report reflects main observations, informal discussions within the team especially with Bethel Terefe and Abinet Kedebe, and some follow-up literature review of Flintan et al (2008) and other. After the itineraries, the report is structured according to the two formative research phases: local norms regarding emotional well being in general (sections 2 and 3) and emotional responses specifically related to water access experiences (section 4). Section 5 focuses on water supplies in Dulessa Woreda, and section 6 on Mille Woreda. Section 7 concludes with the final site selection.