WEBINAR: Accelerating Inclusive farmer-led irrigation and Reaching Scale: Key Considerations

11 June 2020. WEBINAR “Accelerating Inclusive farmer-led irrigation and Reaching Scale: Key Considerations”.

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is contributing to the development of a 2-part webinar series on farmer-led irrigation (FLI), in partnership with the World Bank, the International Water Management Institute, and the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute.

• The second part of the webinar will be held on 9 July. 
• Download a flyer for more information about both events. 
• On YouTube

The Global Commission on Adaptation (2019) and Malabo Montpellier Report (2019) highlight the urgency for innovative water and renewable energy solutions to support current agricultural production systems amid a changing climate.

• Farmer-led irrigation development has gained increased attention by government institutions, development and implementation partners as one of the potential solutions to build climate resilience for smallholder farmers and transform food systems to support healthy diets for all. 
• Furthermore, the knock-on effects of health-related disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic on market disruptions impacting food and nutrition security, enforces the urgency to increase multiple purpose water access and increase local community resilience.

It is against this backdrop that the 2-part webinar series was developed, with the aim to provide an interactive platform on farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) to:

• Generate a common understanding of challenges and opportunities in operationalising inclusive and sustainable FLID.
• Discuss on the potential for new concepts and solutions to accelerate FLID.
• Explore incentives to enhance inclusive FLID.
• Explore incentives and frameworks to enhance sustainable use of water resources from field to basin level.

BLOCK I: An understanding of farmer-led irrigation and the enabling environment 

• Regassa Namara, Senior Water Economist,World Bank Water Global Practice, what farmer-led irrigation is and how to accelerate scale up (12:05) 
• Thai Thi Minh, Senior Researcher, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), how to assess and address systemic barriers in the farmer-led irrigation development enabling environment (15:58) 
• Phil Woodhouse, Professor of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, Studying African Farmer-Led Irrigation (SAFI) project and re-framing agricultural policy and investment (18:50) 

BLOCK II: Accelerating farmer-led irrigation development sustainably using a systems approach to scale. 

• Nick Brozovic, Director of Policy, Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI), using business model canvases to strengthen irrigation supply chains (28:29) 
• Samir Ibrahim, CEO, SunCulture, innovative finance modalities for smallholder farmers (31:20) 
• Nicole Lefore, Director of the USAID/ Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation at Texas A and M University, the importance of social inclusion, reaching women and other resource-poor farmers (33:35)