Dhaamiye
Dhaamiye is a mobile-first water access platform that connects households without piped supply in Hargeisa to certified water vendors, improving affordability, transparency and service quality across an often fragmented market. It targets underserved settlements and IDP communities where only around 30–37% of residents have direct access to the public network and many depend on costly private vendors.
Dhaamiye user and vendor app screens
The system comprises three products: a customer app, a vendor app, and an administrator dashboard managed by Hargeisa Water Agency (HWA). Customers can discover nearby vendors via map/list views, see ratings and vehicle/tank capacity, place immediate or scheduled orders, track deliveries in real time, receive notifications, pay by cash or mobile wallet, and rate or report issues. Vendors manage availability, service areas and minimums, accept/decline orders, navigate with routing support, and receive payments. The admin dashboard enables HWA to onboard and certify vendors, monitor orders, prices and transactions, handle complaints, and place phone-in orders from a call center. Low-tech access (USSD) supports users and vendors with limited smartphones or mobile data.
Dhaamiye admin dashboard
Technically, Dhaamiye follows a modular architecture with back-end/server services and mobile/front-end clients, integrating external services for mobile payments, SMS/USSD, notifications, and routing. The delivery plan covers UI/UX, iterative user testing, performance testing, CI/CD, and thorough handover. Hosting and long-term maintenance are planned on HWA server infrastructure with capacity building for local teams.
Ultimately, Dhaamiye removes middlemen, surfaces fair pricing, and shortens delivery times – particularly benefiting women who shoulder water collection – while providing HWA with valuable data to steer the city’s pro-poor water services.
UNITAC Hamburg has led the design and development of Dhaamiye for the Hargeisa Water Agency (HWA). HWA will host and operate the platform. Field delivery is supported by a local consultant and developer, alongside structured engagement with vendor groups, telecom providers, and end users. UNITAC has also been working with UN-Habitat’s Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA) to enable operator-to-operator learning and peer support, while HWA are engaged in a WOP with Uganda Water.
Want to use the tool in your region?
Contact unitac@un.org for more information about how to use the tool in your region.
Focus group with female residents in Hargeisa
Focus group with water vendors in Hargeisa
Partners
Partners
- Hargeisa Water Agency (HWA)
- Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA)
Impact
Impact
The tool addresses underserved settlements where only 30–37% of residents have piped connections by removing intermediaries, surfacing transparent prices, and improving delivery reliability.
Expected outcomes include greater affordability, transparency and service quality, with specific benefits for women who disproportionately shoulder water collection. Community research highlights long waits, price volatility, and safety concerns. Residents in pilot areas often spend a significant amount of their income on water. These are issues the app tackles via transparent and stable pricing, ratings, and low-tech access (USSD).
For water vendors, this digitalization represents an opportunity to improve operational efficiency, streamline service delivery, and gain formal recognition, thereby addressing long-standing informality in their work.
Scalability
Scalability
Its potential for scale, particularly through HWA’s existing Water Operators’ Partnership (WOP) with Uganda’s water authority, opens the door for replication in other urban contexts.
In the app development, many customisation options have already been built in, which can facilitate upscaling, such as language and currency settings, the list of common vendor types, and different payment options.