New CAE assistant professor, Dr. Franco Montalto, and post doctorate researcher Dr. Timothy Bartrand visited Koraro, Ethiopia this past October. The purpose of the visit was to learn how villagers use water and existing water points in this dryland region of northern Ethiopia. A full day interactive workshop, planned by Montalto and Bartrand, was attended by approximately 50 villagers representing farmers, children, single mothers, priests, and others throughout the village. The output from the workshop is being used to develop an agent-based model of villager decision making that will be used to help identify appropriate means of improving water access and also make progress towards the Millennium Development goals. Also during the visit, Montalto and Bartrand met with the country’s Minister of Water, with academics, and with representative of a wide range of non-governmental organizations to survey the range of perspectives that exist on how water availability, upstream/downstream water rights, economic development all overlap.