WaterWorks2017 International cooperation: What has been done?
The Water JPI is acting since more than 10 years as a facilitator of cooperation between countries on water research through the coordination and funding of collaborative projects. The international cooperation dimension of the Water JPI is reflected by the continuous efforts of partners to integrate new partners to its general governance structure or to participate in some joint activities. That is the case of the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology or the Tunisian Institute for Agricultural Research and Higher Education, which participated to the launch and funding of the WaterWorks2017 call.
As a reminder, WaterWorks2017pooled resources from 23 participating research programme owners / managers of 19 countries to implement a Joint Transnational Call (the WaterWorks2017 call) for research proposals, with EU co- funding, in the area of sustainable management of water resources to reconcile water supply and demand, both in terms of quantity and quality, and in terms of space and time. It covered the following sub-themes of the Water JPI’s SRIA:
- Enabling Sustainable Management of Water Resources;
- Strengthening Socio-economic Approaches to Water Management.
Indeed, this EraNet Cofund funded18 international projects, all of them gathering entities from at least three partner countries (final booklet available here).
In addition to the call, WaterWorks2017 included other activities aimed at expanding the Water JPI’s international cooperation portfolio.
Thus, WaterWorks2017’s partners have also contributed to the shaping of the international water agenda. Indeed, in 5 years, WaterWorks2017’s partners participated and/ or contributed to numerous conferences and Fora, despite of the Covid pandemics, such as the World Water Forum 2018 in Brazil, the Cairo Water Week in 2021, the World Water Forum held in Senegal in 2022, the Water Innovation Europe in 2022, the EcoMondo Conference in 2022 and 2023, the 5th Asian Europe Meeting in 2022, and the India-EU Water Forum in 2022.
Participation to these events allowed the Water JPI and WaterWorks2017 to valorise and share the work done by the funded scientific projects teams during the lifetime of the EraNet, and to promote a dialogue between partners of WaterWorks2017 and the Water JPI with policymakers, end-users, citizens and the scientific community worldwide.
All the key lessons and recommendations from WaterWorks2017 will be also put at the service of the Water4All Partnership, which is currently developing its strategy on international cooperation. As an observing partner to Water4All, the Water JPI is contributing to this strategic document.
Read Other articles:
Lessons learned from the Pilot Call: a review
Closing the Water Cycle Gap: Achievements of WaterWorks2017
Water JPI: Sharing a Decade of Expertise for Sustainable Futures
Water4All & Water JPI: what is the difference?
A brief overview of the different WaterJPI calls