• Encourage dynamic learning and capacity development, at the individual and institutional levels within the MENA countries;
• Demonstrate and promote good practices in water demand management (WDM);
• Enrich the WDM Champions Network with new knowledge and increased professional interaction; and to
• Support and highlight positive and negative experiences and expertise in WDM.

Each mission must contribute to individual capacity development, skill transfer and knowledge acquisition, to be transferred at the institutional level form the host group to the beneficiary group.  The host group is also expected to enrich its knowledge through the transfer of experience.

The ‘participating group’ is comprised of four to five government staff and professionals, including at least one high-level decision maker (e.g. Director General), and two or three professionals or technical staff, and one or two leading researchers from a university or national research institute, and may include civil society and non-governmental organizations.   Similarly, the ‘host group’ would include up to the same number of government staff and professionals of comparable levels, functions, and positions.

Our REF Experience

REF emerged to maintain the momentum from the WDM Forums and during the transition to WaDImena, IDRC and CIDA sponsored two bilateral missions and one trilateral mission in the early part of 2004.  They were organized to harness lessons in methodology, results and capacity development for the establishment of a sustainable REF during implementation of WaDImena.

Regional Exchange Mission #1, 2004 – On Water Users’ Associations – Syria to Egypt

In February, 2004 five members of the Syrian ministries of agriculture and irrigation and University of Damascus get Egyptian counterparts from the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and participated in two on-site meetings with Water Users’ Associations (WUA) in Minia and Beheira.   The group observed how WUAs have improved water allocation equity, helped dissipate communal tension over water, and steadily assumed greater responsibility from tertiary and secondary canals to the branch canal level.

Regional Exchange Mission #2, 2004  – On Greywater and Wastewater Reuse – Algeria and Lebanon to Jordan

During March, 2004 an Algerian and Lebanese group (five participants from each country) visited ministries of Planning and International Cooperation, Water and Irrigation and Environment in Jordan.  The group then headed on a three-day trip to Tafileh, Wadi Musa, Petra, Aqaba, the Dead Sea and Al Ghor to visit greywater units and wastewater treatment plants, and to observe wastewater reuse demonstration sites.  These sites offered a mix of water reuse scenarios, including reclaimed water from national and mechanical treatment plants as well as mixed water (reclaimed water combined with freshwater).

Regional Exchange Mission #3, 2004 – On Water Users’ Associations – Syria to Tunisia

This exchange mission was conducted in April 2004, a Syrian group met with their Tunisian counterparts at the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources.  They then visited Nabeul, Bizerte, and Beja over a three-day period and met with six Water Users’ Associations to observe how they distribute irrigation and/or drinking water in rural areas, levy water charges, and help conserve water resources.

Regional Exchange Mission #1, 2005 – On Water Users’ Associations – Tunisia to Syria

A reverse mission took place in February 2005, where the Tunisian group, who had already met with the Syrians in Tunisia, visited Syria to transfer experience and lessons learned in WUAs from Tunisia to Syria. The mission provided the Tunisians the opportunity to examine/understand the sociological, economic and technical context in Syria in relation to participatory irrigation management to facilitate the formulation of recommendations on how to setup WUAs.

Regional Exchange Mission #2, 2005 – On Supplemental Irrigation and Water Use Efficiency –Tunisia and Algeria to Morocco 

Two groups from Tunisia and Algeria met with their moroccan counterparts in May 2005 to transfer experience and knowledge in SI and water use efficiency in agriculture. Groups met with several water agencies and farmer associations such as the Regional Office for Agricultural Development in Talda and the Hydraulic Basin Agency of Oum Er Rbia, they also went on field visits to the experimental plots of the Water Benchmark Project with the aim to dissemination the benchmark experience in the satellites and to consolidate research programs.

Further details about the missions and lessons learned are contained in the brochure below, and check out our Photo Gallery!!