Growing Propserity

North Darfur is one of the most drought-prone areas of Sudan, made worse by climate change.

Practical Action worked with communities to address its devasting effects. Working closely with the communities, we contributed to peace and prosperity by transforming deserts into green fields to feed families and forests to combat desertification.

Climate change is turning fertile land in North Darfur into desert.
Unpredictable rains and prolonged droughts are making it harder to grow food and raise animals. Many families are being forced to leave their homes, leading to tensions and even conflict over limited natural resources.

The long-running conflict in Darfur, driven by competition for land and water, is getting worse due to extreme weather. Flash floods and dry spells are making farming nearly impossible, and food insecurity is growing.

To survive, people are cutting down trees for firewood and overusing land. But these short-term fixes cause deforestation, soil loss, and desertification. Farmers are forced to expand into new areas, which creates conflict with pastoralists whose grazing lands are shrinking.

Women and girls are hit hardest.
They spend long hours collecting firewood and water, often walking far and facing danger. They also carry the burden of farming and feeding their families with fewer and fewer resources.

North Darfur is trapped in a worsening cycle—where climate and conflict feed into each other, destroying lives and futures.

Our approach

From water capture to irrigation, knowledge building to reforestation, we work with communities living in poverty to adapt and flourish in the new climate reality.

Practical Action supports communities in North Darfur to achieve peace and prosperity by transforming what was once a desert into green fields and forests. Our proven ingenious solutions aim to tackle the problems faced by people in North Darfur by:

• Water Management. Making the most of the water during the rainy season by storing it for as long as possible using repaired dams and newly built reservoirs.
• Irrigation. Connecting the stored water to where it is needed most and using it to rehabilitate the land using solar-powered pumping.
• Forest planting. Planting forests to re-green land already lost to desertification, protecting farmland and houses whilst improving environmental resilience and local livelihoods.
• Re-greening pastureland. Re-seeding land lost to the desert to provide food for livestock and restore the balance of resources between pastoralists and farmers.
• Agricultural training. We support knowledge sharing and training of farmers to rotate crops and improve harvests, profitability and cooperation. We also train community animal health workers, providing them with veterinary kits and revolving funds to improve livestock health.
• Empowering women with business skills. Providing training in food processing, dairy, and handcrafts to increase their income.

Our goals

Our goal is for rural populations, agriculturalists and pastoralists to achieve resilient livelihoods to the effects of climate change and conflict.

• Farmers can irrigate land and cultivate a greater variety of crops more sustainably, harvesting every 3-4 months.
• Pastoralists can access green fodders, water and veterinary supplies to improve and maintain good animal health.
• Local communities manage forest resources to protect the environment and diversify livelihoods.
• We support farmers and pastoralists to establish and manage community tree nurseries, which will propagate 30,000 tree seedlings during the project and tens of thousands more after. This also controls erosion of the Wadi banks and agro-forestry areas.
• By planting 2 hectares of community forests to re-green land and 500 acres of grassland, we provide food for livestock to restore the balance of resources between pastoralists and farmers.
• Households will have increased food security, increased incomes, and reduced competition and conflict between communities over resources, allowing communities to become strong, safe and stable.