Free Flow

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nternational

ooperation

ater

ciences

and

esearch

Through WLI, knowledge generated by NARES in

Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and

Yemen is harnessed with insights drawn from regional and

international partners including:

• three CGIAR centres (ICARDA, the International

Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the

International Food Policy Research Institute)

• a consortium of six United States universities

(University of Florida, Utah State University,

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Texas

A&M University and University of California Davis)

• regional and national universities

• the United States Department of Agriculture,

Agricultural Research Service

• community-based organizations (CBOs) such

as private enterprises, cooperatives, producers’

organizations, fishing associations, water users’

associations, women’s groups, trade and business

associations and others focused on natural

resource management.

WLI has faced challenges to develop integrated scientific

agendas for land and water management cooperation and

collaboration across MENA. Many of these are similar

to the challenges encountered by previous single-donor

initiatives at the land-water interface, including the

multi-donor Regional Initiative for Dryland Management

and the Flemish-funded United Nations Educational,

Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations

University and ICARDA international cooperative

research project on sustainable management of the

marginal drylands. In each case, there is a need to set

common agendas, identify objectives and ensure that

partners’ progress towards them is recognized. Regional

platforms and multi-donor undertakings addressing

and deserve all the support they can get, to collaborate as research

partners and continue the tradition of innovation in this region.

International partners seeking to build peace, prosperity and

strong economic ties across the region know that they need to

move beyond emergency assistance to restore and rejuvenate the

lands once considered to be the breadbasket of Europe. In a world

full of new uncertainties at home and abroad, many donors are

understandably reluctant to jeopardize public funds and repu-

tations in pursuit of research that may not yield instant results.

Some feel obliged to stick with instant ‘band-aid’ solutions, but

others might be willing to consider research and innovation.

Experienced research partners with a long-term stake in successful

water management research can use their accumulated knowledge

to capitalize on emerging discoveries and accelerate the effective-

ness of assistance to research for development, reducing the risks

for donors. Pooling of resources among multilateral and bilateral

partners in support of promising research and extension successes

could further encourage regional research institutions to incubate

and explore new technological solutions and foster the enhanced

long-term thinking needed to address regional climate change,

water scarcity and food security challenges.

The Water and Livelihoods Initiative

The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s)

best-bet solution for activating accumulated knowledge to address

water scarcity and land degradation is its longstanding collaboration

with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry

Areas (ICARDA) and its established cooperative ties to National

Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) across the

region. Together, ICARDA, USAID and the NARES have established

the Water and Livelihoods Initiative (WLI), which offers donors the

opportunity to contribute to a collaborative multi-partner under-

taking where the anticipated impacts of improved scientific water

resources management are systematically verifiable, and underwrit-

ten through participation by USAID and other cooperative partners.

Asset/capital

Human

Physical

Natural

Financial

Social

Verifiable indicator in use or under consideration

Number of men and women benefiting from short-term training delivered through WLI

Number of scientific publications resulting from long-term scientific research supported through WLI

Agricultural land in the benchmark sites (ha, tons and value of dominant and target crops)

Land under pilot testing of improved land and water management strategies and techniques

Water balance in the target watershed/irrigation district (available water resources compared to existing water use)

Agricultural water use volumes (m

/ha) measured in the field under unimproved and improved management practices

On-farm income (gross margin per hectare from selected crops with and without improved management)

Total household income in relation to the rural poverty line with and without water management improvements

Producers’ organizations, water users’ associations, women’s groups, trade associations and CBOs receiving assistance

(disaggregation of data on all above indicators by gender)

Reporting

2012-

2014-

2012-

2014-

2012-

Sustainable water and livelihoods framework for sharing success in scientific cooperation to enhance

rural land and water management

Source: Water and Livelihoods Initiative 1st Quarterly Report. Available online at

http://temp.icarda.org/wli/pdfs/WLIFirstQuarterProgressReport_2013.pdf