Nexus Regional Dialogues Programme MENA // Demonstration Projects in Egypt: Water-Energy-Food Nexus Farming Design Thinking Workshop Dandara, Egypt
In the view of supporting farmers and entrepreneurs, an interactive workshop gathering 29 farmers, financial institutions representatives, agricultural directorates has been carried out in the Dandara Development Center on September 15, 2022 in Dandara, Egypt.
WEF Nexus solutions in Egypt
Egypt needs to develop tangible and scalable responses to water scarcity, food insecurity, and climate change. Ensuring sustainable livelihoods for a rapidly growing population means a substantive increase in food production while using less and less of Egypt’s dwindling land and water resources. At the same time, Egypt needs to reduce its CO2 emissions to meet the Paris Agreement. Innovative WFE Nexus greenhouses are fully powered by solar energy, integrate fish and crop farming, and are based on circular water use models that boost water-use-efficiency.
Since 2016, the Nexus Regional Dialogues Programme in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region has been working across the region to institutionalise the WEF Nexus in public policy and planning. In the programme’s second phase they will continue this work with demonstration projects that show the value-added of the WEF Nexus, capacity building activities and the identification of financing opportunities.
One of the key activities of the programme in Phase II is to carry out tailored trainings at regional and national level on Nexus tools, applications and bottom-up policy implications and recommendations.
Design thinking workshop in the Dandara Development Center
Design thinking is a key process for solving sustainable farming problems by prioritizing the farmer's needs. It relies on observing, with empathy, how agriculture stakeholders interact with their environments, and employs an iterative, hands-on approach to creating innovative solutions.
During the workshop, the main five phases of design thinking have been demonstrated with practical examples. First phase ,the “Empathize” with the current challenges faced, Second phase , the “Define” phase where both the problem and the need are being specified, third phase is “Ideate” where participants put into groups for brainstorming and developing ideas, fourth phase , the “Prototype” were participants developed pilot design of proper WEF nexus farming and the governance needed to implement it, then comes the final phase where the prototype is being “Tested” via pilot showcasing and feedback from the expertise of different relevant sectors.
This workshop is part of a bigger 8-month initiative to raise awareness of integrated WEF Nexus solutions at farm level and at the same time engage in dialogue with policy makers and the financing sector for more framework conditions that will enable the wider uptake of these technologies in small and medium sized farms.
Further reading on the NRD MENA initatives
- Nexus Regional Dialogue MENA // Launching the Nexus Farms Initiative in Egypt – How to secure food supply and rural livelihoods in the context of climate change
- Nexus Regional Dialogues Programme // Training of Trainers in Dandara-Upper Egypt
- Nexus Regional Dialogues Programme MENA // Environment and Development Forum NRD MENA-Technical Session: Upscaling the WEF Nexus for a Climate Resilient Future