IHE-Delft’s Water Development Partnership Programme concludes mission in Jordan

AMMAN — The Water and Development Partnership Programme (DUPC2), which is managed by The Netherlands-based IHE-Delft has carried out a mission to Jordan to follow up on the DUPC2 on-going activities, and to promote for new initiatives in Jordan and the region.

The mission, sponsored by the Dutch government, covered field visits to selected storage and distribution facilities for irrigation water in the high lands as well as in Jordan Valley to validate water scarcity and related challenges and to explore the various farming practices, an IHE-Delft statement said. 

 In addition, the mission organised a stakeholder consultation workshop to validate the national and regional priorities in water and development, and to receive feedback on the performance of DUPC2 in Jordan and in the region. The workshop was held in Amman under the patronage of Tessa Terpstra, Dutch regional envoy for water and energy security for the MENA Region. 

The workshop was coordinated and moderated by Naser Almanaseer from Al Balqa Applied University (BAU), DUPC2 regional committee member for the Middle East. It attracted the participation of 38 experts and stakeholders in water and development from Jordan and international institutions, including the Dutch embassy, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the United Nations Development Programme, the German Society for International Cooperation and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas. National institutions included the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Water Authority of Jordan, and the National Agricultural Research Centre, along with the University of Jordan, Jordan University of Science and Technology, German Jordanian University and BAU .

Programme Coordinator Wim Douven and Programme Assistant Nadine Sander presented an overview of the programme components, namely, education and training, research and innovation, knowledge sharing and networks and management and learning. They also presented the focus themes of the programme covering efficient water management, particularly in the agricultural sector, improved catchment area management and safe deltas, access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation and water diplomacy. They also covered themes such as water scarcity and water problems related to the refugee crisis in the Middle East, water governance, gender/inclusiveness and climate change.

Project leaders of ongoing DUPC2 supported projects presented their activities and discussed the main outcomes and lessons learnt, in addition to future opportunities offered by the programme including a recently launched call for research proposals, a Middle East student competition and participation in online courses. Expert participants contributed to the discussion with their valuable feedback and advice.

The mission concluded with a set of recommendations focused on exploring opportunities for supporting more projects in the MENA region, and launching an effective dialogue towards the development of the regional platforms for wastewater management to support innovation and scientific research and to encourage technology transfer in wastewater management. The experts also recommended a regional meeting to be held early next year to follow up on the recommendations and enable a greater number of interested parties and researchers to participate and to contribute to the development of applied scientific research in the field of water.