The project’s main objective is to strengthen the capacities of national planners, policy makers and stakeholders in water-scarce and in transition settings countries in West Asia/North Africa, and to enhance their effectiveness in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of pre-impact and preparedness drought management strategies.

The project will start with a study that analyzes and maps existing knowledge and practices as well as identifies critical gaps in the area of pre-impact and preparedness drought management in water-scarce countries in transition settings in West Asia/North Africa. An expert advisory group meeting will be held to discuss the findings of the study, gather further information, assess experiences and provide directions to the project.

A project milestone will include selecting five (5) representative pilot countries in West Asia/North Africa. The countries to be selected need to demonstrate and express a high degree of interest by the national and local governments. They must also be representative of different water scarcity and drought challenges, regional social-economic and institutional characteristics and water conflict trends and causes as well as maintain an acceptable level of recovery and stability.

A national assessment and consultation mission to each of the candidate pilot countries will be conducted to build a project team and develop a pilot-country implementation plan in consultation with the partners and stakeholders. Following this stage, activities and actions will be taken to make simultaneous progress toward the project's two expected accomplishments.

The project will be executed by DESA/DSD with support from DESA’s Task Force on Conflict, Disaster and Development. The project will be implemented in cooperation with UN partners including UNEP, DPKO, FAO, UNISDR and UNDP. The two regional commissions ESCWA and ECA will support the project’s regional awareness and networking activities.

The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), UNDP- Dry Lands Development Centre and World Meteorological Organization (WMO).