IWMI’s Dr Miriam Otoo is the Winner of the 2019 IWA Development Award for Research. The Award announced at the Opening Ceremony of the International Water Association (IWA) Water and Development Congress in Colombo, Sri Lanka acknowledges Miriam’s outstanding contribution to research in the field of water and sanitation in low and mid income countries. The IWA recognition is awarded every two years and this is the second time that the same research team in IWMI has won this award.
Commenting on this, Dr Pay Drechsel, Program Leader at IWMI said “We are very happy for Miriam to have received this important recognition for her contribution to resource recovery and reuse (RRR) in the sanitation-agriculture interface. Miriam helped us immensely spearheading a business approach to RRR and transforming it into curricula for uptake by business and engineering schools in Europe, Asia and Africa”.
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