Kick-off meeting of WATDEV project in CIHEAM Bari

On May 11th and 12th 2022, all partners of the project “WATDEV - Climate Smart WATer Management and Sustainable DEVelopment for Food and Agriculture in East Africa” gathered in CIHEAM Bari Campus to kick off the joint Activity Plan.

May 11th and 12th 2022

CIHEAM Bari, Documentation Centre

The meeting was co-organized by CIHEAM Bari and AICS and was introduced by the Director of CIHEAM Bari, Maurizio Raeli, the Director of AICS Office in Cairo (Egypt), Martino Melli, the Director of AICS Office in Khartoum (Sudan), Michele Morana and by AICS Director of Rural development and food security Office, Marco Platzer.

Etienne Coyette of the Directorate General International Partnerships (DG INTPA) of the European Commission presented to all participants a detailed overview of the DeSIRA Programme.

“WATDEV - Climate Smart WATer Management and Sustainable DEVelopment for Food and Agriculture in East Africa” is a project financed in the framework of the DeSIRA Programme of the European Commission and aims at improving water and soil management in Agriculture in East Africa and Egypt.

The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) is the Executive Agency of the project, whereas the International Centre of High Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM Bari) is the technical and scientific lead partner.

The meeting allowed all participants to define operational methodologies and executive planning of the different activities to be developed in the following years. In particular, the study areas in Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt have been illustrated by each responsible partner and the methodology to address the challenges was discussed thoroughly. The discussion also dealt with the involvement and engagement of regional and local actors, including farmers’ organizations in order to meet their specific needs and raise awareness on the innovation produced by the research. The final legacy of the project will be a toolbox which will assist decision-makers in modelling impact scenarios of water and soil management practices.

The delegated persons of the partners participating to the meeting represented the following Institutions: the National Council for Scientific Research, Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (CNR – IPSP Turin) Italy, the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) – Finland, the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) – The Netherlands, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), the Water and Land Resources Centre (WLRC) – Ethiopia, the Heliopolis University (HU) – Egypt, the Water Research Centre (WRC) – Sudan, the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) – Kenya.

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