| Overview : The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nation’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build better lives. The UNDP is on the ground in 170 countries and territories, working with governments and people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges to help empower lives and build resilient nations. The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is a small island developing state (SIDS) in the Pacific. The nation is a large-ocean state, with a total land area of only 182 square km, spread across over 2 million square km of ocean. There 77 communities on 24 inhabited atolls and islands, which are mostly remote and lie merely 2 m above sea level on average. There are no rivers, streams or lakes in RMI and the number of small surface ponds is very limited and are thus highly vulnerable to drought. This adaptation project “Addressing Climate Vulnerability in the Water Sector (ACWA) in the Marshall Islands” has the objective to address expected impacts of climate change on water security on the people of the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI). It was developed by the GoRMI, with the assistance of the UNDP as implementing partner, and is co-financed by GoRMI and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The key project outcomes are to increase water availability on the outer atolls and islands to close the water supply-demand gap, and to enhance the ability of RMI to prepare and respond to climate change induced drought events. These will be achieved through investing in: • Water Security - Improving household and community rainwater harvesting and storage structures to increase resilience of water supply in 77 rural communities in the outer islands and atolls accounting for approximately 28% of RMI’s population, including 7,630 (49%) women, currently at risk. • Water Resilience - Securing groundwater resources from contamination due to inundation caused by wave overtopping of seawater. • Water Governance - Strengthening the technical capacities of national and subnational institutions and key stakeholders to integrate climate change risks into water governance processes so that management of climate change risks are coordinated, effective, participatory, equitable, and sustained over the long-term when risks are expected to worsen. The project aligns with GoRMI’s key climate change policies and strategies and has been developed through extensive consultation with government, Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and the beneficiary communities. It is being executed by the UNDP, in close partnership with the GoRMI, with responsibility for implementation a Project Management Unit (PMU) based in Majuro, RMI and Suva, Fiji. Context The project was initiated in early 2020 but full establishment has been complicated by strict RMI Covid travel restrictions but these have recently been mostly overcome. A Project Steering Committee (PSC) has been established and is operational as the governance structure, the PMU is almost completely staffed with only a few positions vacant and the last international employee is expected in Majuro soon. Current project activities include Technical Design Surveys (TDS), infrastructure designs, water investment plans and implementation arrangements and the procurement of materials with physical infrastructure construction expected to start in the second half of 2022. Implementation is going to be phased across 4 groups of atolls/islands starting with the group most affected by drought events. Outreach activities and awareness training for women and youth are being done in tandem with the Technical Design Surveys and community engagement on proposed implementation plans. Community training events have been held and more non-formal trainings are in the pipeline. These activities are resulting in the establishment of community water committees. Due to the geographical isolation of the outer atoll and island communities rainwater harvesting mainly occurs at the household level. Along with this community facilities, where provided, are scattered and can only be managed on a decentralised community basis. Traditional public sector responsibilities are thus delegated to private households and community groups with government support scarce, irregular and distant. Droughts are regular events and advanced planning and arrangements are necessary to warn, and support local households and water committees. Current rainwater harvesting infrastructure suffers from poor operation and maintenance with rainwater collection efficiencies well below standard. Some successful initiatives to train communities in operations and maintenance of RWH systems have been trialed in selected atolls and islands, but there is a significant gap in scaling this up to other local government jurisdictions and communities. Historical disaster response to drought has been characterised by belated emergency interventions and ill-defined roles and responsibilities due to unprepared institutional arrangements and standard operating procedures. Programmatic and financially sustainable long-term sources of funding to support operations and maintenance of households and community rainwater harvesting systems has not been supported. Improper maintenance of rainwater harvesting systems often leads to contamination of drinking water and illness. There is no comprehensive program of monitoring RWH systems condition, quality or quantity of stored water or groundwater quality. There are no SOPs in place and knowledge and capacity is often lacking resulting in ad hoc and inconsistent practices. Residents in the rural communities require training in basic plumbing/carpentry to enable them to maintain and repair RWH systems (especially gutters and downpipes) to capture rainwater from the full roof area. Training is also needed in repair of rainwater storage tanks. As a response to disaster, training on operation and maintenance of systems has been provided to community members in the past, however, due to in and out-migration, training often needs to be repeated. Small-scale desalination systems are often dysfunctional due to poor maintenance practices, no regular follow-ups and refresher training, and lack of funds for spare parts. Moreover, during the implementation of disaster response, community members were supplied with rainwater harvesting systems and storage tanks, but there was limited training on installation, use and major/minor repairs. A rapid Water Governance assessment carried out at the feasibility stage indicated that there are limited national water governance and coordination mechanisms or accountability frameworks to support water resilience. Therefore, capacity building and the development of robust governance structures at local and national levels is required. Strengthening integrated water security is an urgent climate change adaptation priority for RMI. Considerable RMI investment during the 7-year implementation as well as 18-year operational lifetime has been programmed. Institutional arrangements necessary to deal with both regular operation and maintenance (O & M) as well as proactive drought response is required. Water safety plans are required to provide support and structure to the framework of water committee activities. Recognising that there is little value in the provision of infrastructure alone without attention to institutional arrangements to achieve sustainable water supply during drought events has given rise to the project including Output 3: Climate change induced drought preparedness and response measures implemented in outer atolls and islands. As the development and implementation of national co-ordination and response plans involves numerous institutions and representatives of communities the number of stakeholders is considerable. For efficiency a Working Group has been established to oversee these activities. The national working group members include or are to include: National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) - reporting the Office of the Chief Secretary Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Ministry of Health and Human Services (MOHHS) Marshall Islands Mayors Association (MIMA) Majuro Water and Sewer Company (MWSC) Weather Service Office (WSO) Majuro Atoll Waste Company (MAWC) Red Cross Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI) Ralik Ratak Radio Club Other government representatives/donors United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) - ACWA A task team of NDMO, EPA, and UNDP will oversee the drafting of the proposals and managing the programme of work and the consultant will report into this group for the technical aspects of the project. The EPA is the agency responsible for WASH in RMI. The peculiarities of RMI include: As with all SIDS, there are major challenges in communicating and access across the nation due to the distribution of the settled atolls and islands across extensive distances of ocean. The land on the outer atolls and islands is all privately owned. Leadership and management on the outer atolls and islands is a complicated mix of traditional and local government. There are very severe Covid restrictions on travel to RMI which limits the ability of specialists to enter the country. Currently these restrictions encompass cabinet approval to be given a place on a repatriation flight, quarantine in both Honolulu and followed by further quarantine in RMI and regular testing to prove Covid negative. RMI has a historical relationship with the United States and this currently includes a multi-year compact covering US support to RMI (currently under review for the next contact period), the placement of a US military base on Kwajalein and the freedom of RMI citizens to live and work in the US, which is impacting on migration, particularly of skilled Marshallese seeking improved work opportunities. As the majority of people in RMI rely on freshwater harvested through their household RWH systems as their primary source of water for drinking and cooking, formalization and/or enhancing the understanding of the subnational water governance mechanisms is important for strengthening water resilience. | 
