Watershed management involves the integrated management of a multitude of resources such as crop land, pastures, forests and water to each of which a multitude of often conflicting interests relate. These interests arise from stakeholders inside as well as outside the watershed. The identification and negotiation of these interests therefore is an important element in watershed management.

Despite the extensive efforts of rainwater harvesting and management (RWHM) interventions for moisture-stressed areas in Ethiopia, the adoption and wider dissemination of the newly introduced techniques have been generally meager. The objective of this study was, therefore, to develop appropriate RWHM techniques through a participatory planning process in the Central Rift Valley (CRV) dry lands of Ethiopia. To achieve this objective, a combination of literature reviews, focus group discussions, questionnaire surveys, agro-meteorological analyses and field experimentations were undertaken.

Technical information