After four years of scientific collaboration, innovation, research, capacity building, knowledge exchange and policy dialogue across Africa and Europe, the WATDEV Project celebrated the successful conclusion of its journey with the Final International Conference, held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 15–16 June 2026, in a hybrid format.
Organized in a hybrid format by ASARECA, KALRO, and CIHEAM Bari, the event brought together around 80 participants who were present in Nairobi or attended the Conference remotely from Cairo, Bari and many other locations across Africa and Europe. Researchers, policymakers, government representatives, development partners, international organizations, DeSIRA project coordinators, technical experts, farmers and local stakeholders came together around the general theme of the Conference “Integrating Grassroots Knowledge and Research into Water and Soil Management in Africa”, while celebrating not only the achievements of WATDEV but also the community of partners and shared vision built during these years.
The dialogue also expanded beyond WATDEV activities and results, as it involved several representatives of other DeSIRA-funded projects across Africa to exchange experiences on Best Management Practices (BMPs), landscape management, institutional capacity building and policy integration. While each project addressed different regional challenges, a common message emerged: sustainable agricultural transformation requires stronger partnerships, farmer engagement, effective extension services and evidence-based policymaking. More than a closing event, the conference demonstrated how four years of collaboration have contributed to addressing some of the most pressing challenges that African agriculture is facing, such as including climate change, land degradation, water scarcity and food insecurity.
Indeed, throughout the two-day programme, participants reaffirmed a common vision: resilient agricultural systems can only be built by connecting scientific research with local knowledge, innovative decision-support tools, and effective policies.
Among the WATDEV project results, participants could also explore the “Water Management Toolbox”, designed to support climate-smart plans and decision-making to manage resources sustainably, through the simulation at the basin scale of the Best Management Practices implementation scenarios.
The final International Conference represented an outstanding opportunity to share experiences, strengthen partnership and contribute to the efforts toward a climate-smart management of water and soil resources for Food and Agriculture in Africa.
Funded by the European Union in the framework of the DeSIRA Initiative, WatDev is developed from an Afro-European consortium of partners, including the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation – Cairo Office (Italy), CIHEAM Bari (Italy), ASARECA (Uganda), Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), Water and Land Resources Center in Ethiopia (WLRC), Heliopolis University in Egypt, Water Research Center in Sudan (WRC), CNR (Italy), SYKE (Finland), and ISRIC (The Netherlands).
