GS5658 VPA 10: Resilience with Safe drinking water in Drought Prone Areas of Bale Zone in Oromia (Ethiopia), phase II

Audit Analysis

A Gold Standard safe drinking water project in Ethiopia with VVB-verified additionality and a full monitoring cycle, but undermined by 30+ material findings, a 0% leakage deduction with contradictory justification, no buffer pool, unperformed FPIC, and unresolved physical risks (borehole erosion, declining water supply). The ERR figures are internally consistent in the final verification but contradict an earlier monitoring report, and the usage rate jumped from 92% to 100% without a fully accepted justification.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Leakage deduction is 0% yet the verification report labels the justification as 'quantified' while the earlier monitoring report calls it 'deemed negligible' — the two characterisations are mutually inconsistent and no quantified leakage figure is provided.
• ⚠Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) was not conducted, a fundamental safeguard gap for a community water project in Oromia.
• ⚠The Objective Observer flagged borehole erosion risk in Bidimo village and a decrease in clean water supply in Raytu Anole; corrective actions (stone bands, technical review) are still open.
• ⚠A non-conformity notification was issued because monitoring was delayed by the October 2019 security breakdown in Oromia, creating a gap in the monitoring record.
• ⚠The usage rate rose from 92% (verification report, Jan 2023) to 100% (monitoring report, Feb 2024); the VVB required justification (CAR#5) but the increase is attributed to 'enhanced sensitisation/hygiene campaigns' without independent verification of the causal link.

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