Features WaDImena and partners actively participate at the 1st Arab Water Forum in Riyadh 2008-11-27

Capacity development is an ongoing and constant activity within WaDImena, which is flexible in its approach and targets institutions, as well as individuals.

INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

WaDImena conducted an Institutional Assessment in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco to understand the capacity gaps impeding or accelerating WDM

In the summer of 2006, WaDImena commissioned two eminent water demand management experts in the MENA region to prepare this report, one a professor from the MENA region and the other a retired IDRC program officer, each with long professional experience in WDM, were asked to carry out the following tasks within the broader WDM goals of promoting wider understanding of WDM concepts and of deeper advancement of the WDM agenda throughout MENA. 

• Analyze the needs for capacity development for WDM in the nine Middle Eastern countries on which WaDImena focuses (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen).
• Identify the types of capacity development activities that WaDImena could most effectively deliver.
• Assess those institutions in the region most capable of delivering such capacity development activities.

Throughout this report, WDM is conceived as much more than a set of activities to promote more efficient of more equitable uses of water. Rather, water demand management is seen as an option that is equally as important and equally as powerful as water supply management. As such, WDM becomes a key part of the general approach to fresh water governance known as Integrated Water Resources Management, an approach that is, admittedly, idealistic but that is nevertheless the appropriate framework within which additional capacity in WDM should be conceived. Therefore, rather more attention is devoted in what follows toward the management parts of WDM than to the specific techniques that may be applied, and a great deal of attention is devoted to getting senior managers in government, the private sector and even NGOs to recognize the importance of WDM (as opposed to simply requesting more water) in effect, to increase the demand for water demand management.

Read the Summary report of the Institutional Assessment for WDM .
WaDImena and the authors would like to thank all of those individuals that were visited in each of the countries for their inputs to the report. 

INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

In 2005, WaDImena focussed on individual capacity development activities by supporting young professionals from the region to attend international and regional conferences and training programmes.

WaDImena provided support for 12 young professionals to prepare presentations or scientific papers and participate in international events. 

• Sahar Dalahmeh from the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan attended a three-week training course on "Decentralized Water Supply and Sanitation" in July 2006, The Netherlands.
• A competition was held and seven young professionals were selected to attend the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City  on 16-22 March, 2006. The young professional who attended the Forum were selected from different countries who represent Ministries of Water and/or Irrigation, NGOs, environmental organizations and universities. Click here to read the report on their reflections from the WWF4.
• In Agadir, an international seminar took place on “Water Poverty and Social Crises” (11-14 December 2005). We intended to support two individuals, but one became ill and was unable to fly. A Tunisian researcher from the CRDA was supported to present a paper on the “Raréfaction de l’eau dans les oasis: Crise de la ressource ou crise de gouvernance? Cas des oasis du sud-est tunisien”.
• Wael Suliman, the head of the Water Quality Studies Division at the Royal Scientific Society and Shihab AlBeiruti, the Head of Services and Programs Section of INWRDAM attended the EMPOWERS Symposium on “Sharing Experiences Involving Users in IWRM at the Local and National Levels” in Cairo (13-16 November 2005). They both were presenting papers at the Symposium that reflected the lessons learned from current IDRC projects associated with water demand management. One paper focussed on local participation within an integrated wastewater management project for small communities; and another on involving the local community in decision-making with greywater treatment and reuse projects.
• A researcher from the Syrian General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research with the Ministry of Agriculture to attend a workshop hosted by IPGRI on “Assessment of Plant Genetic Diversity for Water-Use Efficiency” in Marrakech (10-12 October 2005). The paper was on the “Effect of Irrigation Deficit on Olive Trees using Localized (Drip) Irrigation in the Aleppo Water Basin”. 
• Maha Halalsheh, a Jordanian assistant researcher from the Water and Environmental Research Study Centre at the University of Jordan presented a paper on the “Uses of Treated Sludge in Agriculture: A Pollutants Perspective” at the First International Sustainable Urban Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus (September 15-16, 2005). Her paper focused on the use of low quality water and wastewater reuse as a WDM tool, and assessed the debate on the organic pollutants in sludge and its impact on the environment. Click here to read the participation follow-up report.

WaDImena prepares and supports publications, papers and presentations on issues related to water demand management and water governance in the region.

• Doaa Arafa gave a presentation in a workshop organized by the UNESCO and ISESCO on Agricultural Water Demand Management for the Arab Countries, held in September 2006 Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The presentation highlighted the IDRC's research findings in the field of WDM and the on-going applied research and pilot projects supported by WaDImena in the MENA region. Click here to view the presentation.
• Doaa Arafa and Lorra Thompson lead a session on Water Demand Management in an International Training Workshop on IWRM held in May 2006 in Egypt. The presentations given were on the WaDImena's applied research and pilot projects, and on Research and Policy Influence. Click here to view the presentations.Lorra has written an article with a policy advisor at IDRC on “Water Governance: Insights from Research in MENA and Latin America” and was presented at the Mexico 4th World Water Forum. Click here to read the article.
• A joint article was written by David Brooks, Lorra Thompson and Lamia El-Fattal on the “Lessons Learned from the Water Demand Management Forums”, submitted to Water International. Click here to read the paper.
• A paper and presentation was made to the EMPOWERS Symposium (November 2005) on “Local-Level Water Management: IDRC Supported-Research in MENA” with Doaa Arafa, Lorra Thompson and Lamia El Fattal. Doaa presented the paper at the symposium. Click here to read the paper and view the presentation.
• In August 2005, Doaa gave a presentation on Local-Level Water Demand Management to a group of Yemeni water officials and practitioners in a training workshop organized by InWent on water management. Click here to view the presentation. 

More on WaDImena's supported papers.

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