Many farmers in African drylands practice subsistance farming with almost no external inputs and low productivity. They are vulnerable to external shocks such as extended droughts and flash flooding creating low food security and malnutrition. With no buffers and other sources of income they can become  dependent on external food aid quickly.

The Drylands Development (DRYDEV) project was a farmer led project to enhance food security, water management and rural economic development in the drylands of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia and Kenya. DRYDEV aimed to reach more than 227,000 smallholder farmers and ran from August 2013 to July 2018. The project's lead implementer was the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), and was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, with a substantial contribution from World Vision Australia (WVA).

DRYDEV was designed to provide relevant, contextually appropriate support to smallholder farmers in selected dryland areas of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, and Kenya. It sought to transition households in these areas from subsistence farming and emergency aid to sustainable rural development by increasing their food and water security, enhancing market access, and strengthening the local economy for different categories of farmers.

The project provided support to farmers to improve their farm's water and soil management; restore watersheds; improve agricultural commodity production; as well as develop value chains and institutions. The project partners also worked with governments and value chain actors to influence policies, and investment decisions.

SNV was active Kenya and Burkina Faso in this project as a national partner organisation.