Amman- 27 July 2019

On Wednesday, July 24, 2019, The German Jordanian University (GJU), represented by its President, Prof. Manar Fayyad, the Dean of the School of Natural Resources Engineering and Management( SNREM) Dr. Munjed Al-Sharif, and faculty members, participated in COSIMENA Water Cluster Workshop on water resources management.

The workshop COSIMENA, which was under the patronage of Secretary-General of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Engineer Ali Soboh, is part of the project clusters scientific innovation in the Middle East and North Africa. The workshop was organized by DAAD in the presence of the Director of DAAD in Amman, Director of DAAD’s Regional Office in Egypt and the Cultural Attaché of the German Embassy, experts and academics from Jordanian and German universities.

In her speech, Fayyad stressed the importance of the workshop in bringing together scientists, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from Germany and countries of the MENA region to tackle the global challenges in the water sector today.

She added, "We at GJU believe that our scientists and researchers can contribute through the many programs, initiatives, and research outcomes  to finding innovative solutions to improve water supply abundance, access and safety and can support creating platforms and tools towards bringing the efforts of key players and stakeholders including the private sector, government institutions, NGOs, and academic and research institutions together to implement these solutions on the ground."

“One example of our current projects in this regard is the project Science Policy Dialogue: Water Security in Jordan- from Data to Decision (WaterD2D), which is implemented by the German Jordanian University, Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management, Jordan University, TH Köln (University of Applied Sciences), Freie Universität Berlin, and the Technical University of Munich,” Fayyad said.

Furthermore, she explained, “This projects aims at creating knowledge that is demanded by the society, in particular, to create spaces for collaboration between scientists, policymakers and stakeholders from various sectors to discuss the diverse facets of water security and harmonize current and future research between academia and practice. Another project is the development of the MSc program in Humanitarian WaSH which aims at qualifying professionals and researches in the area of WaSH under disaster conditions.”

The workshop included two main sessions, one identified the challenges in the region, and the role of innovative research and the second discussed the international collaboration projects and joint programs.