Towards a regional assessment of self supply potential in SNNPR, Ethiopia

This study uses a mapping approach to assess whether readily available spatial datasets and expert knowledge can be used to assess regional potential for self supply in Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR), Ethiopia. Self supply can be defined as improvement to water supplies developed largely or wholly through user investment, usually at household level. The study was funded by the RiPPLE Programme (Research-inspired Policy and Practice Learning in Ethiopia and the Nile Region) as part of a wider research project to understand the potential contribution of self supply in achieving Ethiopia’s goal of universal access to rural water in SNNPR (Sutton et al., 2011). An added value of a mapping approach is that it facilitates dialogue between stakeholders, as well as capturing expert input and the available data (MacDonald et al., 2009). The specific objectives of the study were to: • identify if suitable datasets exist that could be used to map self supply potential • examine whether, with expert input, validated maps of self supply potential could be produced. Resource and time constraints and difficulties in sourcing and deriving suitable digital datasets meant that these objectives were not fully addressed. However, the exercise proved useful in exploring dataset availability and in producing preliminary outputs that could be used in further studies..