MEDRC’s Development Cooperation program promotes regional cooperation on transboundary water issues, supports development and builds capacity in the areas of most need in the water sectors in Palestine and Jordan.
MEDRC works in close collaboration with the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), the Ministry of Water & Irrigation, Jordan (WAJ), and the Jordan Valley Authority (JVA), to identify key areas of need and to provide agencies with a multilateral framework for cooperation and knowledge transfer.
OUR PRIORITIES
DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION ACTIVITIES CORRESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING PRIORITY AREAS, WHICH ARE COMPLEMENTARY AND MUTUALLY REINFORCING:
Capacity Building and Training
Building technical competence and promoting excellence in the water sector is a key objective of training and capacity building activities.
Enhancing Research and Innovation
Innovating to manage scarce water resources informs programs under this heading, which includes promoting centers of research excellence, building and maintaining networks, and creating sustainable links for Integrated Water Resource Management.
Expertise and Dialogue Support
Strategically developed to respond to the needs of our primary water sector partners, MEDRC focuses on providing technical support, expertise, and guidance, in order to increase institutional capacity.
Transboundary Water
Helping countries deal with water issues across borders by harnessing best practice in water diplomacy.
TRANSBOUNDARY WATER
MEDRC’s transboundary water cooperation program focuses on harnessing strategic expertise and provides a forum for dialogue and cooperation across borders. The format, schedule and content are designed to identify training needs and capacity gaps on water sector issues, management and policy.
WORKSHOPS & DIALOGUE SUPPORT
Bringing government, academics and practitioners together to discuss various case studies and theories relating to transboundary water issues. Previous workshops have addressed issues such as costing, climate change, water diplomacy and public administration. Attendees are invited to present examples from the USA, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. MEDRC’s dialogue support program assists countries in forming joint responses to transboundary water issues.
TRANSBOUNDARY NETWORK
The transboundary program joins officials, academics and practitioners involved in our workshops and dialogue support into an informal network of alumni.
TRANSBOUNDARY BRIEFINGS
A series of quarterly briefings on concepts and issues relating to transboundary waters providing external examples and practical lessons for water practitioners. The briefings discuss issues such as transboundary water cooperation, covering such topics as governance and institutions, comparative models of water diplomacy, new technologies and data methods, international water laws, and emerging issues such as cyber security of joint water infrastructure.
MEDRC TRANSBOUNDARY WATERS PRACTITIONER BRIEFING SERIES
Originally written for water ministry officials and diplomats, the MEDRC Transboundary Waters Briefing Series provide examples of potential tools and approaches for practitioners in this important field. The Briefings identify challenges and emerging topics of interest for potential international cooperation.
Issue 14, Peace Parks and Integrated Water Resources Management
Shared Governance: This practitioner briefing unpacks water governance and management structures in a peace park setting to see how they have contributed to integrated water resources management at the national and transboundary level.
December 6, 2022
Issue 13, Water Finance
Shared Costs: Water is a primary driver of climate change, yet its financing has long been neglected and its price undervalued. Water finance is unique both politically andeconomically, and should be more thoughtfully addressed.
October 23, 2022
Issue 12, Groundwater
Shared Soil: Groundwater flows are a critical unseen part of the water cycle. Making the invisible visible is the theme of World Water Day 2022, the year of Groundwater.
April 7, 2022
Issue 11, Harnessing private sector support for transboundary water
Shared Corporate Engagement: This briefing looks at contemporary shared frameworks, policies, processes and standards of corporate engagement in transboundary water settings with reference to case studies to consider where we are and where we might want to go.
December 9, 2021
Issue 10, Water and Urban Development
Shared Approach: City networks, a shared approach to sustainable urban development and integrated water management
November 9, 2021
Issue 9, Transboundary Water Technologies
Shared Innovation: Technology can help to solve transboundary environmental problems and increase the efficiency of natural resource use. However, innovative tools must be matched with political will.
August 9, 2021
Issue 8, Gender and Transboundary Water
Shared Participation: Four guest authors apply a gender lens to the challenges of water security and transboundary cooperation and discuss methods for achieving the SDG of Gender Equality in the water sector.
January 9, 2021
Issue 7, International Water Law
Shared Watercourses: Examining the evolution of international water law and its impact on transboundary cooperation and conflict.
November 9, 2020
Issue 6, Transboundary Dams
Shared Responsibility: Examining the evolution of international water law and its impact on transboundary cooperation and conflict.
May 9, 2020
Issue 5, Water Cyber Security
Shared Protection: Threats and approach to cyber security in the water sector in a transboundary context
January 9, 2020
Issue 4, Water-Energy-Food Nexus
Shared Policies: Guest author Mike Hightower shares his insights on the W-E-F Nexus
December 20, 2019
Issue 3, Climate Finance
Shared Financing: This issue considers the role of Climate Finance in addressing water and climate change.
November 20, 2019
Issue 2, Wastewater
Shared Infrastructure: Challenges and benefits of cross boundary collaboration
October 20, 2019
Issue 1, Water Accounting+
Shared Data: Exploring the WA framework for communicating water resource data.
September 20, 2019
TRANSBOUNDARY BULLETIN
The Transboundary E-bulletin is a monthly update on the latest global responses to cross border environmental challenges. While the primary focus of the bulletin is on efforts to manage shared water resources it also features news and content on a range of pressing environmental issues such as climate change and desertification.
MEDRC gather and collate approximately 20 of the top stories in international collaborative efforts and initiatives addressing cross border environmental challenges, and bring them to you in one easy accessible place.
Released at the beginning of every month to a recipient list, subscribers will receive an easy to read bulletin delivered directly to their inbox complete with sectional headings for ease of navigation. A bulletin archive is available on our website here.
UNIVERSITY CAPACITY BUILDING
Developing in-country university research capacity through awards for graduate student fellowships, targeted research projects, and strategic equipment funding.
WATER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
A unique initiative offered in partnership with the Palestinian Water Authority and the Ministry of Water Irrigation, to support academic research capacity in Palestine and Jordan, MEDRC offers exceptionally talented graduates the opportunity to undertake postgraduate study at participating universities in Palestine and Jordan.
Thesis topics are developed in a problem-solving context, addressing an immediate need or specific problem as identified in conjunction with the water authorities of Jordan and Palestine. To date, MEDRC’s Fellowship Program has funded over 200 master’s level students pursuing important topics in water research, serving as a resource for future students and the water authorities of Palestine and Jordan.
MEDRC’s Water Research Fellowship now includes a Ph.D Program. Currently, Ph.D. level water research is typically conducted outside of the region, limiting the coordination and impact of research with the water authorities. MEDRC is working to bridge such gaps, supporting effective water solutions sustainably developed within the national context.
THE MEDRC WATER RESEARCH FORUM
The Forum brings together MEDRC Fellows and experts from all sides of the water sector to discuss regional and global water challenges in a collaborative environment, while showcasing the innovative ideas and research of outstanding MEDRC Fellows. Forums are held as a series of events, held in Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza and feature presentations from both current students and Alumni, adjoined by expert discussion panels, under an overall theme developed an appointed Student Steering Committee. The Student Steering Committee, formed of MEDRC Fellows and consisting of several key elected executive positions, are responsible for curating the forum, are assisted by MEDRC and its regional partners and participating universities.
INNOVATION INITIATIVE
MEDRC Water Research is pleased to announce the launch of a new ‘Innovation Initiative’ research grant award for Palestine and Jordan, provided through funding from the Government of the Netherlands.
The Innovation Initiative will provide support funds to a small selection promising projects in relevant areas of water research.
Please visit our Fellowships page for further details.
Applications Closed
Alumni Feature Stories
Super Seeds for Saline Agriculture
MEDRC catches up with a researcher from Ramallah who participated in MEDRC’s Water Research Fellowship Program in 2012 and who is now about to establish her own company. When Rinad Hamed starts talking about her research it feels like you are walking next to her among the rows of alfalfa and broad beans. Her enthusiasm is infectious.
Modeling Wastewater Pollutants Dispersion in the Coastal Waters of Gaza
It started when he was young, he wrote in his research proposal for MEDRC’s MSc Fellowships in 2019. ‘TV shows and films like Good Will Hunting, Sherlock Holmes and A Beautiful Mind captured my imagination. Watching these clever people solve complex equations or puzzles, the way their thought process was visualized with fascinating graphs and mathematical symbols, I thought: I want to be like them.’
TECHNICAL CAPACITY BUILDING
Enhancing institutional capacity through specialized trainings and coursework that help to bridge the knowledge and capacity gaps of institutions.
STRATEGIC TRAINING PROGRAM
MEDRC has developed a bespoke in country training program that responds to specific areas of need for the Palestinian Water Authority and the Jordan Valley Authority. Offered trainings are practical and focused at the local level in the Jordan Valley of Jordan, and Palestine. Training content is developed every year in partnership with the PWA and the JVA according to their current priorities.
We also deliver our train-the-trainer workshop series from our state of the art training center at MEDRC Headquarters in Muscat, Oman. Courses are developed by identifying the needs of each region in coordination with the domestic water authorities, providing targeted training seminars to professionals of institutions from the water sectors in Palestine and Jordan. This program helps local water authorities to effectively manage their water resources and to implement their water strategies to address domestic water sector issues.
RESEARCH TRAINING CENTERS
Research Training Centers—such as the “Gaza Test Bench”—provide the necessary teaching infrastructure to develop professionals and technicians in-country for the water sector, providing for hands-on development with advanced water technologies. These facilities bridge university capacity building and technical institutional capacity building through practical training initiatives.
The Gaza Test Bench is a unique initiative providing in-country research facilities and equipment for the development of water sector professionals capable of addressing pressing water needs. The test bench is a small-scale NF-RO (nanofiltration and reverse osmosis) desalination testing plant, with MEDRC providing for the funding, design, and construction of the plant.
EXPERT TECHNICAL ADVISORY PANEL
MEDRC, in cooperation with the PWA, have brought together a panel of leading industry experts to form an Expert Technical Advisory Panel. The panel exists to provide advice, technical expertise, and guidance to the Technical Water Sector Capacity Building Program, Gaza. Gaza suffers from several environmental issues that impact upon the quality and quantity of water for its inhabitants. There is a pressing need to invest in the development of the technical capacity of the water sector and its staff, if an improvement to the current situation is to be achieved. Working in collaboration with Almadina Consultants – Environmental Management and Urban Planning, a number of consultancy projects were undertaken to assist the work of the PWA in GAZA. Further details are available by downloading the booklet below.
Webinars
A multi-dimensional consideration on the importance of applying a gender lens to transboundary waters and ways forward.