IWMI, led by Alan Nicol, together with Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) as well as The Nordic Africa Institute and the Hydraulics Research Centre, Sudan, organized the 2nd Workshop on ‘Land and Water Investment in the Eastern Nile basin: Challenges and opportunities for regional development” held in Wad Medani, Sudan, December 3-5, 2016.
IWMI’s particular role on the project has been related to preparing papers for two publications (an edited volume and a special issues of the Journal of Water Resources Development), as well as organizing the meetings that helped disseminate and debate the research results to a wider audience.
This meeting brought together researchers, government officials from Nile countries, representatives from the private sector and regional media to discuss the changing dynamics in the Eastern Nile basin and challenges these pose to successful cooperation.
In addition to Alan Nicol, IWMI team was represented also by Liza Debevec and Likimyelesh Nigussie (Consultant at East Africa and Nile Basin office). Together the team made a presentation on ‘Opportunities for building gender into sound basin planning on land and water investments in the Nile Basin’. This presented existing work under the 4 Basin Gender Profiles project and discussed the importance of collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data for better planning and implementation of large scale water and land investments in the region.
The presentation also introduced next steps in the process of collaboration between IWMI and Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) under which IWMI plans to support the NBI in preparing investments projects in the Eastern Nile and supporting the implementation and uptake of the NBI’s 2012 Gender Strategy document. This engagement with ENTRO will be led by Likimyelesh Nigussie.
Population pressure and increasing water competition in a changing climate require us to take stock of the availability and use of water across scales. Water availability not only influences farmers’ commercial prospects but also irrigation-related enterprises and agri-businesses. Greater water scarcity could jeopardize irrigation and agricultural markets while excessive water use can lead to declining ecosystems, water quality and soil health. IWMI advises development partners and the public and private sectors on all aspects of water resource availability and use through a variety of advanced modeling and remote-sensing products and tools, including 
The ability of farmers to engage in or expand irrigation depends on the prevailing socioeconomic, ecological and political contexts, which are often complex, non-linear and changeable. Overcoming systemic barriers to farmer-led irrigation development while taking advantage of existing opportunities 
A lack of affordable credit, particularly for women and resource-poor farmers, is one of the main barriers to expanding farmer-led irrigation in low- and middle-income countries. But 
Scaling farmer-led irrigation requires strengthening human capacity and knowledge exchange among all actors and stakeholders involved. IWMI takes an action research approach, working with national and international research institutions, governments, extension agents and public and private organizations to co-develop the scaling ecosystem and strengthen capacity to drive scaling networks and collective action. We support the