IWMI in Southern Africa

“IWMI’s regional office for Southern Africa, based in Pretoria, South Africa, brings together international and local specialists who work closely with countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on integrated water, land and food management solutions that respond to regional and national challenges and priorities. IWMI’s strategy is centered around three strategic programs – Water, Food and Ecosystems; Water, Climate Change and Resilience; and Water, Growth and Inclusion – each supported by high-quality science and digital innovation. Our priorities for the region include integrated river basin and aquifer management, evidence-based technical support to agricultural and water policy planning, implementation, review and monitoring, inclusive governance, and sustainable infrastructure and ecosystems.”Dr. Inga Jacobs-Mata, Country Representative – South Africa, Regional Representative – Southern Africa, IWMI, Pretoria, South Africa

  • Champagne Dam, Chochocho in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
    Champagne Dam, Chochocho in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
  • Farmer with her maize crop, Chochocho Irrigation Scheme located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
    Farmer with her maize crop, Chochocho Irrigation Scheme located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
  • Tomato crop under harvest in Nkomazi, South Africa
    Tomato crop under harvest in Nkomazi, South Africa
  • Farmer inspecting cabbage crop, White River, South Africa
    Farmer inspecting cabbage crop, White River, South Africa
  • Farmer removing weeds from her maize crop, Chochocho Irrigation Scheme located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
    Farmer removing weeds from her maize crop, Chochocho Irrigation Scheme located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
  • Safekeeping madhumbe (taro) seedlings for the next season in a wetland plot, in Craigieburn located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
    Safekeeping madhumbe (taro) seedlings for the next season in a wetland plot, in Craigieburn located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
  • Farmer with her maize crop, Chochocho Irrigation Scheme located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
    Farmer with her maize crop, Chochocho Irrigation Scheme located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
  • Safekeeping madhumbe (taro) seedlings for the next season in a wetland plot, in Craigieburn located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
    Safekeeping madhumbe (taro) seedlings for the next season in a wetland plot, in Craigieburn located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
  • Farmer speaking into recorder during interview in her wetland plot, in Craigieburn located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
    Farmer speaking into recorder during interview in her wetland plot, in Craigieburn located in the Inkomati Catchment, South Africa
  • Tomato crop under drip irrigation method, Nkomazi, South Africa
    Tomato crop under drip irrigation method, Nkomazi, South Africa
BackgroundWater, Food and EcosystemsWater, Climate Change and ResilienceWater, Growth and Inclusion
The scarcity of clean and safe water, along with increasing urbanization and a highly variable climate, holds back economic and social development in Southern Africa. Scarcity is aggravated by competing demands for water from the domestic, agriculture and industrial sectors, limited water management and regulatory capacity, and inadequate investment in water resources development.

Yet, in many countries in Southern Africa, there is enormous untapped irrigation potential: only 7% of the region’s 50 million hectares of arable land is irrigated. Nevertheless, there have been major accomplishments in water policy in the region, which saw a wave of pioneering policy reforms in the 1990s. However, implementation has lagged for a variety of reasons, including limited capacity and differing expectations around rights to water access and use.

Over 70% of the freshwater in Southern Africa is shared by more than one country. IWMI has a strong track record in transboundary water management and unparalleled experience in conjunctive management. We work with river basin organizations, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and national governments to develop frameworks and approaches that enable countries to share data, tackle risks and solve problems together. Significant aquifers cross international boundaries. However, Southern Africa lacks aquifer agreements and institutions to complement those that exist for international river basins.

IWMI has been instrumental in devising interdisciplinary tools to assess transboundary aquifers in the region, and in linking these assessments to strategic action plans and developing solutions. We develop tools to better understand the quantity and quality of groundwater, and the impacts of urbanization and climate change. We also support policy dialogues, incorporate knowledge on climate change impacts into groundwater management strategies, and develop institutional and technical capacities for catchment-scale and transboundary groundwater management. IWMI supported the establishment of the Groundwater Committee under the Limpopo Watercourse Commission, coordinates the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP), a global partnership for sustainable groundwater management, and supports the Pan-African Groundwater Program (APAGroP) of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW).

APAGroP is a strategic partnership platform for brokering groundwater information, and for supporting the strengthening of member states and regional and international organizations in their capacity to manage groundwater sustainably. IWMI also supports the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), the largest conservation area in the world shared between five countries in Southern Africa, in developing joint and integrated groundwater knowledge, management plans and institutions. Another portfolio under this strategic program focuses on nature-based solutions to water challenges. Southern Africa has long depended on natural (‘green’) infrastructure to maintain water security.

Investments in the water sector have focused on human-engineered (‘gray’) infrastructure solutions. This has created stresses, such as the destruction of ecosystem services, debt burden, lack of technical know-how, poor maintenance, and inflexible design and operation. IWMI is exploring an approach that uses a balance between green and gray infrastructure to deliver water services to ensure access, equity and affordability, while protecting the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that produce those services. Our research focuses on environmental flows; managed aquifer recharge; ecosystem health; integrating ecosystem services into water management, including green infrastructure in planning and operations; and building public appreciation and promoting investment options for green infrastructure. 

IWMI’s activities in Southern Africa aim to increase the resilience of agricultural systems and livelihoods. Our research on sustainable agricultural water management, for example, identifies efficient, inclusive and economically-viable approaches to enhancing the adaptive capacity of farm households. IWMI leads the Two Degree Initiative, Southern African Challenge, which focuses on climate-resilient and water-secure livelihoods for drylands of the region.

We support the development and delivery of tools to reduce climate risks to agri-food systems, including digital advisory support services that can be used by decision-makers in climate-smart planning and development. IWMI is also working on the development of appropriate and sustainable business models, while identifying innovative finance modalities and incentives for scaling climate-smart and socially-inclusive agriculture. Another project aims to develop an innovation accelerator grant for start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and other public-private partnerships. The objective is to reduce the risks of piloting and scaling technical, digital, financial and social innovations that enhance climate resilience in agricultural value chains, while promoting social inclusion and the sustainable use of land and water resources.

IWMI strives to strengthen capacity in the areas of inclusive growth and development. In 2014, the African Union Heads of State and Government adopted a set of concrete agricultural goals to be achieved by 2025 under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). This renewed commitment towards agricultural transformation emerged from the Malabo Declaration of 2014, in which African Union Heads of State made seven specific commitments to achieve accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods.

One of the key commitments made in the Malabo Declaration was to promote mutual accountability in the agriculture sector through country-level sectoral progress reviews conducted every two years (biennial reviews). IWMI leads the Southern African node of the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS-SA), which provides technical support to countries tracking their progress towards achieving national targets. Specific tools developed by ReSAKSS-SA and IWMI for data management include a geographic information system (GIS)-based e-Atlas for water data management, and databases for water-related indicators of CAADP.

Evidence shows that several countries in Africa are strengthening their policies and increasing public and private sector funding in support of agriculture, indicating that the efforts of ReSAKSS are contributing to higher agricultural productivity and transformation. Following the migration of the three programs initiated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to support CAADP, activities of the ReSAKSS program at a continental level are being managed by AKADEMIYA2063 (an international, nonprofit organization) since July 2020. Many Southern African countries have well-established water laws. However, communities may not be well-informed about national regulations or be able to apply for or afford the water use permits imposed upon them. Also, communities often adhere to customary water laws and practices.

IWMI works with several countries in the region to determine how to combine customary and traditional laws to create water and land use rights systems that support inclusive rural development and farmer-led irrigation, while ensuring the sustainable use of limited water resources. Such a hybrid approach to water law needs to address the needs and priorities of all water users, particularly women, who represent a large number of small-scale farmers and the majority of domestic water users in Southern Africa. IWMI works in remote rural areas where potable water is often unavailable in adequate supply. Here, we assist communities with a process known as ‘supported self-supply’, whereby they identify their water needs, develop budgets and planning tools, and identify sources of funding. IWMI helps communities develop sustainable, cost-effective and equitable mechanisms for financing both domestic and productive water use. Community water management tends to be more sustainable than externally-implemented water supply frameworks.

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Economics and equity

At IWMI, researching underlying economic and social trends helps us understand why people migrate. They also explain the impact of remittances and loss of agricultural labor, as well as consequences of migration on gender roles and food and water security. For instance, communities with higher levels of income inequality, or relative deprivation, may experience greater levels of out-migration compared to consistently low-income communities. In addition, migration changes intra-household gender-labor composition, which can change the access of smallholders to water resources, affecting the functioning of community-based institutions and consequently household and local food security. IWMI also focuses on circular economy, a strategy to recover and reuse waste, to boost food security and understand how interventions can encourage refugee and host communities to retain scarce resources.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

Urban & rural transformation

As agricultural opportunities fluctuate in rural areas, migration, particularly to urban areas, is an adaptation technique to secure incomes and alternative livelihoods. Income generated by migrants is often sent back to family as remittances to support communities at home. At IWMI, we assess linkages between rural and urban areas, as well as the role of agricultural knowledge systems and food and water security. We recognize there are complex push and pull factors such as individual aspirations, economic opportunity, social norms, climate variability and government policies which drive migration and affect rural communities, particularly youth. Our work follows a ‘positive migration’ philosophy, framing migration as an adaptation technique and socio-economic choice (in many cases) rather than a problem to be solved, and focuses on establishing safer, more regular migration by supporting changes to migration governance in sending regions.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Climate adaptation and mitigation

Covid-19 disruption & adaptation

Covid-19 has caused a rupture in migration logistics and exposed inequities in the migration system, yet drivers of movement remain. Government lockdowns and closed borders due to the pandemic curtailed movement for migrants, posing complex problems for migrant hosting and origin countries. There have been significant economic shocks, with a sharp decline in unemployment for migrants and an inability to send money home through remittances to support family. Some migrants face social stigma for returning home without an income, particularly if families relied on loans to support their journeys. Consequences have been severe for informal migrants who lack government protection in their host countries. Migrants, particularly those living in crowded, lower-income neighborhoods, have been experiencing stigmatization related to the spread of Covid-19. We look at the impacts of Covid-19 on migration governance and rural areas across seven countries, development planning in Ghana, migration challenges in Southeast Asia, and community-based disaster management and resilience building in South Africa.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

Water, climate change and agrarian stress

Migration, water and climate stress are inextricably linked to rural development. Water stress and climate variability can act as a driver of fragility, intensifying pre-existing political, social, economic and environmental challenges. Initiatives designed to address migration-related challenges must tackle inequalities and the exclusion of women, youth and marginalized groups; governance opportunities to better manage water and natural resources and technology and innovations to help communities escape socio-ecological precarity and thrive despite climate challenges. IWMI intends to build climate resilience by implementing projects which tackle gender-power inequalities in the face of dynamic, economic-social-ecological challenges. Our work brings together affected communities, institutional stakeholders and social actors to manage water in response to climate variability and agrarian stress, striving to address complex physical and social variables.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Climate adaptation and mitigation

Gender, intersectionality and social inclusion

It is critical to center gender and intersectional identities when unpacking migration phenomena. Gender as a social construct guides social norms and relations, including the decision-making processes and mechanisms leading to migration. We recognize that the intersections between race, age, class, sex, caste and region shape the migrant experience.

IWMI strives to offer transformative approaches and solutions for women, youth and marginalized groups, regarding them as equal partners in our work rather than passive end-users.  For example, within communities that experience male out migration, socio-political systems are restructured to make women, youth and other groups active agents in their own agri-food transformation. Migration patterns contribute to the feminization of agriculture, and women may experience a greater burden of responsibility coupled with an increased ability to access and control resources and policies to build sustainable livelihoods. Acknowledging social complexities helps researchers and communities understand migration trends and address structural power imbalances to build a more equitable world.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

Innovation bundles

Farmer-led irrigation development is about much more than installing a pump in a field. It requires access to financing, labor, energy, and input and output markets, so that investments in irrigation translate into sustainable returns. IWMI uses a systemic approach to understand the farming system as well as the factors in the enabling environment that prevent women, men and youth from engaging in and benefitting equitably from farmer-led irrigation. We partner with farmers and the public and private sectors to test contextually relevant innovation bundles that combine irrigation technology such as solar pumps with financing mechanisms like pay-as-you-own or pay-as-you-go, agricultural inputs and agronomic techniques. We also look at ways to improve on-farm water management and nutrient use efficiency and reduce evapotranspiration through digital advances and agricultural extension. We integrate the scaling of innovation bundles into agricultural value chains to enhance the impacts on farmers’ irrigation investments, incomes and livelihoods.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

Gender and social inclusion

The barriers facing women and men in accessing irrigation technologies are not the same. Neither are the benefits. Social, cultural and religious norms influence inter- and intra-household power relations. These, in turn, affect access to resources such as land, credit, information and training. IWMI carries out cross-dimensional analysis of gender and social inclusion in policy, financing, livelihood assets and access, institutional approaches and interventions as well as gender-based technology preferences. For example, we work with farmers, financial institutions and the private sector to address gender-based constraints in credit scoring and enhance women’s purchasing power. But benefitting from farmer-led irrigation does not stop at accessing and adopting technologies; enabling women and resource-poor farmers to participate in input and output markets is equally important to ensure that investments in irrigation result in improved nutrition and economic empowerment. Other ways we enhance gender and social inclusion include tackling agency issues around financial management and literacy, livelihood diversity and social capital as well as access to infrastructure, extension services and market linkages.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

Environmental sustainability

Population pressure and increasing water competition in a changing climate require us to take stock of the availability and use of water across scales. Water availability not only influences farmers’ commercial prospects but also irrigation-related enterprises and agri-businesses. Greater water scarcity could jeopardize irrigation and agricultural markets while excessive water use can lead to declining ecosystems, water quality and soil health. IWMI advises development partners and the public and private sectors on all aspects of water resource availability and use through a variety of advanced modeling and remote-sensing products and tools, including Water Accounting+, solar irrigation mapping and internet of things. These are complemented by multi-criteria analysis to evaluate the potential of irrigation expansion, taking into consideration environmental flows. With our private sector partners, we are leveraging converging technologies, such as sensors on solar pumps that capture usage data, to encourage better resource management and governance.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

Adaptive scaling and partnerships

The ability of farmers to engage in or expand irrigation depends on the prevailing socioeconomic, ecological and political contexts, which are often complex, non-linear and changeable. Overcoming systemic barriers to farmer-led irrigation development while taking advantage of existing opportunities requires scaling processes to be adaptive. This means diverse actors feed off, adapt to, support, cooperate, compete and interact with each other, forming different multi-actor networks and engaging in collective action to undertake various functions in the scaling ecosystem. IWMI works with farmers and public and private sector partners to co-design and pilot contextually relevant innovation bundles and their scaling pathways or strategies, influence policies and accelerate the transition to scale of innovations with demonstrated early impact.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

Financing ecosystem

A lack of affordable credit, particularly for women and resource-poor farmers, is one of the main barriers to expanding farmer-led irrigation in low- and middle-income countries. But credit alone is not enough. Financing for irrigation equipment must be embedded in a wider financing ecosystem that bundles credit with inputs and services, market information and access, and technology such as digital payment. In several countries, irrigation equipment suppliers are stepping in to provide financing directly to farmers. In doing so, they increase their own risk. To address this issue, IWMI works with farmers, private companies, finance institutions and development partners such as the World Bank Group to analyze whether credit-scoring tools are inclusive. We also help to identify gaps in the financing ecosystem and de-risk the private sector from testing innovative end-user financing mechanisms that take into account farming system typologies, financial and social capital and crop seasonality.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion

Human capacity development and knowledge exchange

Scaling farmer-led irrigation requires strengthening human capacity and knowledge exchange among all actors and stakeholders involved. IWMI takes an action research approach, working with national and international research institutions, governments, extension agents and public and private organizations to co-develop the scaling ecosystem and strengthen capacity to drive scaling networks and collective action. We support the development of or reinforce national multi-stakeholder dialogues with the aim of sharing scaling experiences and realizing win-win collaboration, interactive learning and capacity development. Other modalities for capacity development include hackathons, innovation research grants for bachelor’s and master’s students, private sector scaling grants and innovation internships with private companies. These all serve to stimulate local and contextually relevant innovation, close the research-private sector divide and enhance job readiness among young professionals.

This focus area contributes to the following One CGIAR impact areas:

Nutrition, health and food security Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs Gender equality, youth and inclusion Environmental health and biodiversity Climate adaptation and mitigation

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