This paper summarises two regional initiatives in the arid and drought-prone Afar and Somali regions of Ethiopia that seek to strengthen the monitoring of water services and contribute to improvements in management and service delivery. The Somali Functionality Inventory (SFI) was developed as an emergency intervention geared towards guiding borehole rehabilitation efforts during the 2016/17 drought, and now provides the foundation for on-going monitoring of all motorised boreholes in the region. The SFI enabled improvements in functionality during the drought to be measured. In Afar, a similar initiative has emerged with the additional deployment of remotely reporting sensor technology providing a mechanism for continuous monitoring of water supply schemes. Lessons from both on-going initiatives are identified, seeking to contribute to the development of monitoring systems and support the government’s flagship Climate Resilient WASH initiative
