Climatelinks Photo Gallery

A young girl from the Gambella region of Ethiopia is happy because she will no longer have to miss school to travel to fetch clean water. Plan International and the American NGO Water Mission have been working together since 2020 to create stable access to clean drinking water in two refugee camps in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. This water program, named SunWASH, has established four solar-powered automatic water systems in the camps and laid pipes to bring clean water to schools, benefiting a total of 40,000 people. This also improves the safety of young girls, making them less vulnerable to gender-based violence. Gambella, located in western Ethiopia, is one of the country’s poorest regions and is severely affected by water shortages, sudden heavy rains, and flooding due to climate change. These conditions have led to food shortages and low agricultural productivity, causing conflicts and violent clashes between refugees and local Ethiopians over scarce resources.

Plan International and the American NGO Water Mission have been working together since 2020 to provide stable access to clean drinking water in two refugee camps in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. This water program, named SunWASH, has established four solar-powered automatic water systems in the camps and laid pipes to bring clean water to schools, benefiting a total of 40,000 people. Gambella, located in western Ethiopia, is one of the country’s poorest regions and is severely affected by water shortages, sudden heavy rains, and flooding due to climate change. These conditions have led to food shortages and low agricultural productivity, causing conflicts and violent clashes between refugees and local Ethiopians over scarce resources. SunWASH has been recognized by UNHCR and Ethiopia Refugee and Returnees Services as a state-of-the-art program due to its success in setting new standards for ensuring access to clean water.

Plan International and the American NGO Water Mission have been working together since 2020 to provide stable access to clean drinking water in two refugee camps in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. This water program, named SunWASH, has established four solar-powered automatic water systems in the camps and laid pipes to bring clean water to schools, benefiting a total of 40,000 people. Before this project, refugees, including children, were forced to travel long distances to get water for drinking, cooking, washing, and cleaning. Gambella, located in western Ethiopia, is one of the country’s poorest regions and is severely affected by water shortages, sudden heavy rains, and flooding due to climate change. These conditions have led to food shortages and low agricultural productivity, causing conflicts and violent clashes between refugees and local Ethiopians over scarce resources. SunWASH has been recognized by UNHCR and Ethiopia Refugee and Returnees Services as a state-of-the-art program due to its success in setting new standards for ensuring access to clean water.

Plan International and the American NGO Water Mission have been working together since 2020 to provide stable access to clean drinking water in two refugee camps in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. This water program, named SunWASH, has established four solar-powered automatic water systems in the camps and laid pipes to bring clean water to schools, benefiting a total of 40,000 people. Gambella, located in western Ethiopia, is one of the country’s poorest regions and is severely affected by water shortages, sudden heavy rains, and flooding due to climate change. These conditions have led to food shortages and low agricultural productivity, causing conflicts and violent clashes between refugees and local Ethiopians over scarce resources. SunWASH has been recognized by UNHCR and Ethiopia Refugee and Returnees Services as a state-of-the-art program due to its success in setting new standards for ensuring access to clean water.

Plan International and the American NGO Water Mission have been working together since 2020 to provide stable access to clean drinking water in two refugee camps in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. This water program, named SunWASH, has established four solar-powered automatic water systems in the camps and laid pipes to bring clean water to schools, benefiting a total of 40,000 people. Gambella, located in western Ethiopia, is one of the country’s poorest regions and is severely affected by water shortages, sudden heavy rains, and flooding due to climate change. These conditions have led to food shortages and low agricultural productivity, causing conflicts and violent clashes between refugees and local Ethiopians over scarce resources. SunWASH has been recognized by UNHCR and Ethiopia Refugee and Returnees Services as a state-of-the-art program due to its success in setting new standards for ensuring access to clean water.

Community members gather at a newly activated water supply point at Mermerti in the South Omo zone of Ethiopia to fill containers with clean water for household consumption. The community faces serious challenges in accessing fresh water for their families and livestock. USAID’s Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (CR WASH) Activity plans to install solar pumps and connect the water point to health centers and schools in the area. The borehole pump installation and water distribution system will benefit more than 6,000 households. CR WASH works to expand access to improved water supply and sanitation for targeted areas of Ethiopia’s lowland regions in 36 woredas of Afar, Oromia, Somali, and South Ethiopia.

Technicians from the Afar Regional Water and Energy Bureau work to open a borehole to give communities in the Deyiluna Geraro area of Ethiopia’s arid Afar Region access to clean water. USAID’s Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (CR WASH) Activity will install and maintain the borehole and water distribution system, ultimately benefiting more than 3,000 households, as well as health facilities and schools in the area. CR WASH works to expand access to improved water supply and sanitation for targeted areas of Ethiopia’s lowland regions in 36 woredas of Afar, Oromia, Somali, and South Ethiopia.

Community members gather at a water pump and celebrate the flow of water at Mermerti in the South Omo zone of Ethiopia. This community has been seriously affected by the lack of fresh water for drinking and household consumption, as well as for their animals. In 2024, USAID’s Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (CR WASH) Activity has started to install solar pumps and connected the water point to health centers and schools, ultimately benefiting more than 3,000 households. CR WASH works to expand access to improved water supply and sanitation for targeted areas of Ethiopia’s lowland regions in 36 woredas of Afar, Oromia, Somali, and South Ethiopia.

Low-cost personal transportation is an enormous pollutant but is critical for any economy and is the lifeblood of millions of drivers and riders. Finding green solutions for low-cost personal transportation will be essential in the coming generation. In Hawassa, Ethiopia, a bajaj (or rickshaw/tuktuk) driver looks for his next customer. He works nearly nonstop and is always on the move seeking customers and delivering them to their destinations as quickly as possible. Until drivers are given affordable, green options for low-cost vehicles, many parts of the world will continue to be plagued by low air quality levels.

 This photo was taken on May 26th, 2022, for Feed the Future's EatSafe: Evidence and Action Toward Safe and Nutritious Food, a USAID program. Partners include the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Pierce Mill Entertainment and Education, Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, and the International Livestock and Research Institute. 

Traditional markets are the lifeblood of communities across the world. Every part of the food value chain, from farm to fork, has dramatic impacts on our climate and needs to be at the forefront of any climate discussion. Here, some vendors and friends share a joke in the midday heat of Hawassa, Ethiopia. 

This photo was taken on May 28th, 2022, for Feed the Future's EatSafe: Evidence and Action Toward Safe and Nutritious Food, a USAID-funded program. Partners include the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Pierce Mill Entertainment and Education, Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, and the International Livestock and Research Institute. 

River water is very important for local farmers' livestock, but water levels have lowered due to the growth of water hyacinth. In Ethiopia, this invasive species has infested many water sources, displacing native plants and wildlife and impacting the lives and livelihoods of local communities.

This image depicts a farmer threshing wheat. In Ethiopia, recurring drought and increasing temperatures due to climate change is predicted to result in heat stress and crop failure, threatening local communities and food security in the region.

A scooper opens bags of wheat from the Joint Emergency Operation Program (JEOP) at a distribution point in Hawzen district, in Misraqawi Zone of the Tigray Region, Ethiopia, on February 6, 2019.

When recurrent droughts lead to crop failures in Ethiopia, it can leave families with little or nothing to eat. The Joint Emergency Operation Program (JEOP) distributes wheat, yellow split peas and cooking oil to targeted beneficiaries. The project’s scope includes more than 250 distribution points across five regions of Ethiopia. This massive scope in combination with the country’s challenging environment, meant there was potential for significant loss of food aid. Success meant getting as much of the food as possible to families facing starvation during the drought. CRS funded and designed a commodity risk-management system to minimize loss and maximize success which led to a mere 0.0024% of food aid unaccounted for over the course of one year. In 2018 alone, funding from USAID helped CRS and its partners provide emergency food assistance to more than 1.5 million food insecure people, plus another 506,000 people displaced in southwestern Ethiopia due to ongoing security issues.

Donkeys Transport Water.  Women work together to tie jerry cans full of water onto a donkey. Rurujis, Somali Region, Ethiopia.

Livestock on the way to market. A man looks after cattle near Mekele, Tigray, Ethiopia.

Nagele Boru cuts grass from a community enclosure to feed her calves. She and her husband worked on the enclosure as part of the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), a large-scale, Government of Ethiopia-implemented, multi-donor-funded program that aims to help people escape food insecurity in Ethiopia. Funding more than 20 percent of PSNP’s budget between 2010 and 2014, USAID was the program’s largest bilateral donor. This program helped to cushion vulnerable groups from shocks and increase their resilience by providing predictable and timely food transfers while they work to build community assets and enhance their livelihoods. Nationwide, the PSNP reached 6.4 million people, 1.5 million of them through USAID support. In pastoral areas, USAID’s PSNP programs supported 162,728 people in the Somali Region and the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region. Working with the Ethiopian Government, other donors and implementing partners, USAID is also helping design the next generation of PSNP programs through developing more sustainable approaches to protecting and building household and community assets for people in pastoral areas. PSNP public works reduce communities’ risks and improve resilience through a wide range of activities, including fodder production, infrastructure construction, soil, and water.