WaDImena Monthly Drop - Issue No. 28 - February 2010

§  WaDImena End of Project Forum in Cairo on April 19-20, 2010

The conference will bring together the project’s key partners, networks and institutions from the research, policy making and government communities, donors, the private sector, NGOs and the media to reflect and assess the past, present and future work on Water Demand Management in MENA. It is a stock-taking event to determine what was accomplished, what was not and what is needed for the future.  The event coincides with the IDRC 40^th anniversary, which will be celebrated on April 20^th. 

Forum Objectives:

·           Share project achievements and lessons learnt-what worked, what did not and why?

·           Elaborate future directions and generate momentum for the next generation of WDM research, capacity strengthening and water policy related work in the region. 

§  WaDImena has organized a National Course on Water Demand Management (WDM) in Cairo from 1 – 3 March 2010 for water practitioners in Egypt

The course responds to the need for a better understanding of the opportunities and constraints associated with the effective integration of Water Demand Management in responding to water scarcity in the MENA region—with a focus on Egypt. This activity is organized in partnership with The Water Arab Academy and the National Water Research Center (NWRC) in Egypt.  It is a learning program designed as a national course to be delivered in the format of a national exchange platform guided by National Water Resources Centre that will target senior managers in different key ministries and other agencies to reflect collectively on WDM issues and priorities in Egypt and concrete ways for WDM integration and uptake.  The course in Egypt has been fine-tuned following a similar activity in Morocco for Moroccan managers and in the UAE, for regional training. 

§  WaDImena Undergoing End of Project Review

As the WaDImena project draws to a close, the project is now undergoing an end of project review. The review, conducted by Dr. Gert Soer and Dr. Fethi Lebdi, seeks to assess the achievement of project objectives, intended outcomes and impacts. It will also capture the contribution of the project to WDM policies and WDM capacity building and will identify remaining gaps in policy and action in the region.  The review will also offer national, regional and international stakeholders with an opportunity to learn from this regional experience.

Dr. Soer is a water management expert with 33 years of experience, mostly in developing countries. He has long-term experience as a senior government advisor involved in high level policy making, the preparation of strategies and co-ordination of different entities and interests.  Dr. Lebdi has a PhD in Hydraulics and is Head of Water Resources Laboratory at the National Agricultural Institute of Tunisia, after being the Director General of this organization for 6 years. He is also an advisor to the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources in Tunisia and has worked on many water issues across the region with national, regional and international organizations.

§  IDRC: Call Announcements from the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund

IDRC is pleased to announce two calls as part of the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund.

• A limited, competitive call for proposals from organizations already working on research in partnership with each other. The deadline for submission of proposals for this call is March 15, 2010. This call seeks proposals of limited duration (12 to 24 months), with a budget between CAD 750,000 and CAD 1,000,000.
• An open, competitive call for concept notes, which may come from new or existing partnerships. The deadline for submission of concept notes is March 31, 2010. Project budgets under this call will be in the range of CAD 1,000,000 to CAD 5,000,000. Project duration must not exceed 42 months, including field research and final reporting.  For more info.

§  Future Water Course: Application of Public Domain Models for Water, Food and Climate Studies

Simulation models for water-food-climate are used frequently to support policy making. Currently, a wide range of models is available in the public domain and has been applied in various parts of the world. With the advent of global datasets and remote sensing techniques, these models can be applied easily even in data scarce areas. Moreover, these public domain models can be used free of charge, and are often similar or even more advanced compared to commercial ones.

During this training course, an overview of state-of-the-art modeling techniques and hands-on training for specific models will be provided. The course will be organized by Future Water and the venue is Wageningen, Netherlands. Training will be provided by FutureWater staff, which have  multiple years of professional modeling experiences world-wide. Read more.

§  Food Security Center starts its PhD program "Global Food Security" and offers up to 12 full PhD scholarships

    FSC's PhD program "Global Food Security" has taken its final institutional hurdles and is planning to start the program in August/September this year. FSC through DAAD's Exceedprogram is able to award up to 12 full PhD scholarships for persons qualified for this PhD program. Details regarding the PhD program, the scholarship and the application for both are on FSC's webpage

§  Research Fellow Vacancy Announcement in Singapore

This position provides an excellent opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research on the traditional and non-traditional drivers of change for water management beyond 2020. These drivers include, but are not limited to, population, urbanization, globalization, free trade, HIV/AIDS, technological developments and increasing inter-sectoral interrelationships between water, food, energy, and environmental securities. The Fellow will collaborate and participate in the research programme on the Future of World’s Water under Prof. Asit K. Biswas and Prof. Cecilia Tortajada of the Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.  For more info.

§  Pre-announcement of SPLASH research call on sustainable sanitation service chains

SPLASH, the ERA-NET of the European Water Initiative will launch a research call on 1st March, 2010. See website.

§  World Bank Institute Climate Change (WBICC) Launches E-Bulletin

The Bulletin reports on a quarterly basis on the activities and events of WBICC.  The Bulletin is structured around WBICC’s four core programs: (i) Cities & Climate Change, (ii) Innovation in Carbon Finance, both of which are directly supported by the Carbon Finance Assist Trust Fund; (iii) Leadership & Coalition Building in Climate Change; and (iv) Climate Adaptation in Water, Agriculture and Natural Resource Management. See Bulletin.

§  The Arab Water Academy Call for Application for PhD Programme

The Arab Water Academy is calling for applications for a PhD programme focused on the institutional and policy dimensions of the water management in the MENA region. See AWA Programme Call.

      READ OF THE MONTH

§  A Guide to Good Water Management – Read Report

§  Local Government Perspective on Adapting Water Management to Climate Change – Read Report

§  Water and Climate Change: Understanding The Risks and Making Climate-Smart Investment Decisions – Read Report

§  Template for Assessing The Governance of Public Water Supply and Sanitation Service Providers – Read Report

EVENTS

§  The Fourth International Conference on “Healthy Water in the Arab World” 2010. The conference will take place on 28–29 June 2010, in the Cairo International Conference Center – Egypt.

See website

§  1^st International Conference and Exhibition on “Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation” 2010.  The conference will take place on 24– 27 July 2010 and is organized by the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater under the auspices of the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development.  See Invitation