Strengthening EU-Africa cooperation in Water RDI workshop 2021
Cairo Water Week 2021
The Cairo Water Week (CWW) is an important platform for professional engagement, the exchange and sharing of ideas, learning from others and identify areas for partnerships and collaborations. The fourth edition of the CWW took place during from 24th to 28th of October 2021 in Cairo, Egypt, addressing the main theme “Water, Population and Global Change: Challenges and Opportunities”.
The 2021 event discussed population issues and the impact of overpopulation on common management of transboundary rivers and climate change for the first time in this series as they have a direct impact on the water sector. The CWW 2021 featured a wide range of opportunities for discussions, networking, and exchange of knowledge on the undermentioned five themes and related topics that were addressed during the event through various plenary and technical sessions organised by reputed international and regional organisations having an interest in such topics.
- Theme 1: Water and Global Change
- Theme 2: Advances in water management
- Theme 3: Water and Society
- Theme 4: Regional and Sectoral Cooperation for Water Security
- Theme 5: Innovation in Hydro-Sciences
The Water JPI Coordination team gave two oral presentations in the framework of the Cairo water Week 2021. Véronique Briquet-Laugier, presented “The Water Joint Programming Initiative: towards a sustainable instrument to tackle Global Challenges & the UN Sustainable Development Goals”, and Esther Diez Cebollero gave a talk entitled “Water governance: addressing research and innovation gaps in the future. The Water JPI perspective”. Both presentations allowed communicating to a great audience on latest developments in the fields of international cooperation and water governance whilst highlighting opportunities and barriers for enhanced collaboration amongst partners, as well as the potential contribution of the Water JPI in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Download the article “The Water Joint Programming Initiative: towards a sustainable instrument to tackle Global Challenges & the UN Sustainable Development Goals” (October 2021) here.
Download the article “Water governance: addressing research and innovation gaps in the future. The Water JPI perspective” (October 2021) here.
Besides, IC4Water partners (I&M, Water Europe, IFD) published in October 2021 a policy brief on “Conclusions on business models for addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reducing the Death Valley of projects to create a Water-Smart Society beyond Europe” that was presented at the 2021 Cairo Water Week.
Download the IC4Water Policy Brief on “Conclusions on business models for addressing SDGs and reducing the Death Valley of projects to create a Water-Smart Society beyond Europe” (October 2021).
Water JPI Workshop on Strengthening EU-Africa Cooperation in Water RDI: challenges and opportunities
As part of the Cairo Water Week, in collaboration with the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) and the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), the Water JPI organised a 3-hour side event on “Strengthening EU-Africa cooperation in Water RDI: opportunities and challenges” on 26th October 2021. The objective of this Water JPI workshop was to explore opportunities for collaboration between Europe and Africa in Water Research Development and Innovation. The side event was targeted at research funding agencies, policy-makers, development banks and international organizations dealing with water management and capacity development, as well as research performing operators. The side event counted on the participation of Daan du Toit, Deputy Director-General of International Cooperation and Resources at the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) of the Republic of South Africa, for the Keynote speech.
The event was structured around two high-level panel discussions. The first panel discussion was moderated by Salma Essawi (ASRT) on the Alignment of RDI programmes between Africa and EU. The second one was moderated by Adrian Healy (Cardiff University) on Social innovation, the social debate on competing use of water in some regions of Africa, and how to increase capacity development and stakeholders and private sector participation for water RDI.
With the active participation of African partners in the side event, both from southern Mediterranean countries and sub-Saharan countries, the results from this workshop will support the Water JPI and other regional programmes in the development of their international cooperation strategy in the near future, the exchange of ideas and practices on alignment, and the identification of collaborative opportunities with partner initiatives.
Download the workshop Programme
Download the workshop Master Presentation
Download the Keynote Speech Presentation from Daan du Toit
Download the workshop Proceedings
Watch the Water JPI workshop the records below:
Cairo Water Week 2021 - Day 3 – Water JPI workshop 3.2 Part 1
Cairo Water Week 2021 - Day 3 – Water JPI workshop 3.2 Part 2
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Linking to Water JPI actions
IC4WATER CSA on supporting international cooperation activities on water
Linking to other initiatives
More information on the Cairo Water Week 2021 edition, including the records, booklet and final report, is available on the event dedicated website!