Mauritania - National Integrated Rural Water Sector Project

The present project is related to the financing of the complementary activities of the National Integrated Rural Water Sector Project (PNISER) in Mauritania. This funding is an emergency response to the deterioration of natural resources and the vulnerability of people in southern Mauritania. As evaluated in 2012, the PNISER aims to develop a national program and an action plan for the different uses of water that will allow better coordination of interventions and help to give impetus investments in the sector through a coherent institutional framework for integrated management based on the program approach. In its initial setting, the project is to support governance of the water sector through: (i) development of the integrated water resources management strategy; (ii) the ONSER development plan (sustainability of rural DWS systems management) and; (iii) capacity building of decentralized services and beneficiary communities.Complementary actions in the core project areas and surrounding areas will focus on the promotion of land and water management techniques particularly in pastoral areas where nomadic populations are the most affected. The additional activities to be carried out are integrated around the component of the initial project concerning the development of drinking water, pastoral, sanitation and small irrigation infrastructures. The aim is to create new solar water treatment systems for the supply of drinking water (reservoirs and standpipes) and pastoral care (installation of animal drinking troughs). The promotion and implementation of these activities will reduce the vulnerability of water infrastructure and the diversification of livelihoods and incomes of the rural and agro-pastoral population. The additional actions will help to create a balance in the spatial distribution of interventions and equitable and sustainable regional development.