Water investments in the drylands are critical for water and food security, where access to water is essential for domestic and productive uses, including livestock production and rain-fed cultivation. Yet, ensuring the sustainability of water investments in the drylands remains an ongoing challenge, with evidence of approximately 20-40% failure rates of rural water supplies across East Africa and beyond. Despite global improvements in water coverage, the functionality and long-term sustainability of improved coverage has lagged behind, often with a limited understanding on how and why investments in water supply fail.
