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This publication covers the potential cumulative impacts and long-term effects of new small water infrastructures (SWIs) on dryland community resilience. Extreme droughts are affecting millions of livestock farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, causing water shortages, famines, migration and fatalities. The construction of new small water infrastructures (SWIs), such as deep wells and boreholes, is increasingly supported by climate resilience programmes of non-governmental organizations and national governments to improve water availability for agro-pastoralists, especially as an emergency response to extreme droughts.

The publication provides the following findings:

• Introducing numerous SWIs can change livelihood strategies, anchoring local communities to the proximity of SWI, especially in places with favourable agro-climatic conditions;
• More SWIs alone do not necessarily cause sedentism, but they can be an important enabling factor;
• While developing new SWI releases water shortages in the short term, it can erode traditional adaptation practices without adequate governance.