Transforming Lives

CRS began its Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) Program in 2001 to address the problem of pervasive food insecurity and degraded livelihoods in rural Ethiopian communities. The integrated approach adopted by CRS and its partners uses watersheds as the primary focus for project interventions. They work directly with communities and the government as partners in protecting and managing the natural resources, and provide a range of interventions to improve food security and livelihoods of target communities.

In Ethiopia, CRS commissioned a study in April 2009 to evaluate outcomes from its IWM Strategy and Program. The evaluation found that the CRS IWM Program has made significant positive changes in the lives and livelihoods of rural households. Future impacts of IWM projects on rural Ethiopian communities can be significantly enhanced through better initial project planning, more precise component/objective-based budgeting, better defined beneficiary targeting, preproject component cost analysis to determine the best mix and level of component investments, and more systematic planning for sustainability and phase-out.