The Extended Community Climate Change Project-Drought (ECCCP-Drought) is a four-year project funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and co-financed by the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF). It started in March 2024 and will end in October 2027. RDRS Bangladesh is implementing the project in four unions of Niamatpur upazila in Naogaon district. The goal is to increase the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in drought-prone areas of Bangladesh.

The project interns to address drought-related problems in the Barind region by promoting good water management, adaptive technological practices, and infrastructure maintenance. It also focuses on planning for irrigation, drinking, and household usage. The project aims to reduce water needs by promoting crops with low water requirements during the dry season, reducing irrigation needs by up to 70% in winter. Additionally, it will provide more water access points for drinking, reducing the burden on women.

As a whole the project will in the Barind region will bring 3,500 hectares of land under irrigation by rehabilitating 140 kms of canal in the three selected districts. In order to promote a sustainable use of groundwater resources, the project will implement a Managed Aquifer Recharge technique (rainwater directed through tubes to the aquifer) to replenish the ground water. It is expected that 2,500 rooftop-based MAR (Managed Aquafire Recharge) will replenish about 560,000 m3 of water into the aquifer annually which will increase access to drinking water of the selected communities in proposed districts. 40 inject wells in ponds will replenish 400,000 m3 of water into the aquifer annually. In addition, these ponds will also preserve about 150,000 m3 of water as surface storage. Also, 15,000 farmers will apply drought-adaptive cropping patterns.