When the Adigrat Diocese Development Action (ADDA) project, with support from the Catholic Church, started working in the Irob area in the mid-1970s, it stimulated community action to make larger dams more quickly in order to create more land that could be used in ways determined by the community.
The project involves seven partners including three UK Global Geoparks and will support the development of the Global Geoparks Network of geoheritage destinations in the Northern Periphery and Arctic Region.