ScaleWAYS Project Start-up Workshop
28th - 29th May 2019, Entebbe, Uganda

1. Project Start-up Workshop

The project has scheduled to convene a two days project start-up workshop aimed at effectively rolling out project implementation. The workshop will be held from 28^th to 29^th May 2019 at the Laico Lake Victoria Hotel Entebbe in the Republic of Uganda.

1.1 Workshop Objectives The overall objective of the workshop is to:

1. Create a common understanding on project scope and expectations towards project results.

2. Harness the joint knowledge and wisdom of workshop participants on agricultural water management practices and related stakeholders.

3. Create strong buy-in and ownership amongst project partners.

4. Have clarity on next steps of project implementation.

1.2 Expected Workshop Outcomes

The following are the expected outcomes of the start-up workshop:

1. Adequate project understanding among stakeholders and experts;

2. Understanding challenges in agricultural water management: status and future leading agricultural intensification options

3. Preliminary stakeholder identification and mapping including their sphere of influence connected to the leading agricultural intensification options;

4. Understanding policy / strategy development processes which the project could connect to and support;

5. Agreement on overall research design and roles of researchers and research institutions and next steps;

1.3 Participation

The workshop will be attended by representatives of the project partner institutions, representatives of the Five EAC Partner States (Ministries responsible for water resources and agricultural research institutions), and research institutions and universities based in or undertaking research within the Lake Victoria Basin. 

2. BACKGROUND

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) has received funding from the Austrian Development Cooperation towards the implementation of a research project on Advancing Water Future and Scenarios (WFaS) for East Africa: Accelerating Transition Towards Resilient Water and Food Systems. The project will be implemented jointly by IIASA, the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The project aims to contribute to resilience of land and water resources, improved health of ecosystems and human wellbeing in the extended Lake Victoria Basin as these are threatened by a rapidly increasing population and economic growth, degradation of the environment and ecosystem, and the impacts of projected climate change for the coming decades.

This initiative is the result of a prior research project which looked at the current and future water balance in the extended Lake Victoria Basin up to 2050 based on regional development scenarios. This project convened a stakeholder workshops in December 2017 and 2018 which also involved government, academia, civil society and private sector from the Lake Victoria Basin in order to develop the regional development scenarios and review the modelling results.

The key results of this project can be accessed on:

https://previous.iiasa.ac.at/wfas-eastafrica

Last edited: 09 October 2019