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Objective
The objective of the project is to improve on-farm
irrigation water management and farm outputs. The project
involves farmers in decision-making, which should
ultimately lead to the creation of water user associations
and cooperatives. The project is carried out in Jordan and
Palestine.
How does MEDWA work?
The project tackles the problem of irrigation water
delivery of an acceptable quality and combines it with
intervention in the relationship between water suppliers
and farmers. As water suppliers and farmers have different
interests, the project supports the communication process
between the two parties. Water storage facilities are
built and small scale wastewater treatment is introduced
at the village level in order to increase the availability
of water resources.
The project stimulates the farmers to form water user
organisations and cooperatives, in which structures they
can exchange views, experiences and good-practice. It also
strengthens stakeholder and community capacities, where
special emphasis is put on women to play a decisive role
in these organisations. Women are responsible for most of
the agricultural activities, but are, because of tradition
and lack of know-how, marginalised and largely excluded
from the decision-making processes.
MEDWA gives training in institutional capacity building
and organises activities in the fields of information
exchange and the transfer of know-how and technology.
Awareness-raising and mobilisation of the population (in
order to obtain their commitment) are vital components of
the project.
Added value of the project
MEDWA increases the opportunities for water supply and
demand management for farmers. It provides solutions for
urgent problems like water storage and wastewater
treatment. In addition, it improves the framework for a
participatory approach to water resources management.
The project partners
The MEDWA consortium consists of four institutions from
the MEDA countries Jordan and Palestine and EU countries
Austria and Spain.
The
Austrian development agency Hilfswerk Austria is
responsible for the project co-ordination. |
