WatDev

🌍 For everyone involved, has left a word, a memory and a lesson. 💭

Across the Nile Basin, the project brought together farmers, researchers, institutions and local communities to explore how to build more resilient and shared solutions for water 💧 and soil management. 🌱

From traditional knowledge to scientific research, from field experience to the WATDEV Toolbox 🛠️, this journey has shown that innovation becomes stronger when it is built through trust and cooperation. 🤝

The WATDEV Final Conference marked the end of a project, but also a new starting point for better decisions on water, soil and food security.

Thank you to all the companions on this journey: partners, researchers, farmers, institutions, experts and communities who made WATDEV possible.

The end of a journey. A new beginning. ✨

CIHEAMBari, AICS Cairo, ASARECA, ISRIC - World Soil Information, Suomen ympäristökeskus - Syke, CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development, KALRO, Water and Land resource Center - WLRC Ethiopia

Is really over?

Gaetano Ladisa, Scientific Project Coordinator at CIHEAM Bari, closes the day by focusing on what may be the deepest legacy of the WATDEV experience: building trust. 🤝
Trust between farmers 👨‍🌾, researchers 🔬 and institutions 🏛️.

The climate challenges 🌡️, water issues 💧 and food security concerns faced by communities across the Nile Basin do not stop at borders. They affect everyone. 🌱

WATDEV has shown a possible path forward: cooperation, shared knowledge and practical tools for better decisions. 💡🛠️

Will there be a WATDEV 2 to continue this journey together? 🔄
We cannot say for now.
But today, we say goodbye from near and far 👋, with the same spirit of trust and cooperation that has grown throughout this journey.

Ciao!

Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo - Ufficio Cairo, CIHEAMBari, ASARECA, KALRO, ISRIC - World Soil Information, CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Suomen ympäristökeskus - Syke, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development and Water and Land resource Center - WLRC Ethiopia

ForDevelopment

🤝 The real success of the project? The incredible network it has built! 🌐

As Jacopo Tavassi (AICS - EU Portfolio Coordinator) highlights, working with such a diverse group of stakeholders and partners requires time and deep dedication, but it’s exactly this collaboration that leads to shared, impactful results.

🌱 This strong network is the ultimate legacy of the project. Moving forward, future initiatives will build upon these connections to design and implement resilient, sustainable interventions for water and soil management across Egypt, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, and beyond. 🌍✨

Hear more about how collaboration turns knowledge into action! 🎙️👇

Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo - Ufficio Cairo, CIHEAMBari, ASARECA, KALRO, ISRIC - World Soil Information, CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Suomen ympäristökeskus - Syke, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development Water and Land resource Center - WLRC Ethiopia

ForDevelopment

Adapting solutions to different contexts 🔄

this is one of the key lessons learned from those who have applied smart & resilient management tools to tackle climate change and food security challenges. 🌍🌾

Julius Rono, Agri-Food Sector Leader at SNV in Kenya and Burundi, shares his perspective. 🎙️

As a regional project, also faced the challenge of adapting its Toolbox to different local realities, thanks to the contribution of farmers 👨‍🌾, researchers 🔬 and experts from the four target countries.

Because effective solutions are not simply transferred. They need to be understood, tested and adapted to the places where they are meant to work.

Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo - Ufficio Cairo, CIHEAMBari, ASARECA, KALRO, ISRIC - World Soil Information, CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Suomen ympäristökeskus - Syke, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development Water and Land resource Center - WLRC Ethiopia

🌱 Today, the Final Event focuses on project results!

One of the main outputs is the WATDEV Toolbox: an interface designed to simulate future agricultural scenarios 🌾 and support decision-makers in planning investments, strategies and policies.

💡 By providing a structured analysis tool, the Toolbox helps assess different options and guide more informed choices for water 💧, soil 🌍 and agricultural management.

Sylvester Dickson Baguma, ASARECA Executive Director, explains why the Toolbox matters. 🎙️

Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo - Ufficio Cairo, CIHEAMBari, ASARECA, KALRO, ISRIC - World Soil Information CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development, Water and Land resource Center - WLRC Ethiopia

So far, yet so close.

The health emergency in Uganda turned the WATDEV Final Conference into a hybrid event.

From the main venue in Nairobi to Cairo, Bari and other European locations, partners stayed connected and continued to work together.

Because this is the spirit of a transnational project like WATDEV: adapting to challenges, sharing knowledge and building cooperation across borders.

Silvia Lecci, WATDEV Project Officer at CIHEAM Bari, tells us more.

From local knowledge to wider impact.

In the WATDEV project, farmers’ knowledge is not treated as something marginal.

It is the starting point.

As highlighted by Tiberio Chiari, Director of AICS Cairo, the challenge is to recognize local practices rooted in specific territories and understand how they can support planning at national and regional level.

This is where traditional knowledge and science meet.

Listening to farmers. Testing practices. Building scenarios. Supporting better decisions.

WATDEV shows that innovation becomes stronger when it starts from the field and grows through collaboration.