IWMI Researcher and Theme Leader, Felix Amerasinghe, was named one of the “Outstanding Scientists of the 21st century” for his work on malaria, by the international Biographical Center, Cambridge, U.K.
Abdul B. Kamara of the IWMI East Africa received the Josef G. Knoll Science Award for his dissertation“Property Rights Risks and Livestock Development in Southern Ethiopia”.
Nitish Jha of the IWMI South Africa office received the “Harold K. Schneider Prize” from the Society for Economic Anthropology for his dissertation, “Research on Gender and Decision making in Balinese Agriculture”.
Marna De Lange, Researcher at the IWMI South Africa office won the “Dr. Hassam Ismail Memorial International Award” for her work in water management in agriculture. She also won the “Women in Water Award” from the Government of South Africa, in recognition of her work
Eline Boelee, IWMI Researcher won the “ICID Award for Excellence” in organizing a special session on Malaria and Agriculture
Tushaar Shah won the “CGIAR Outstanding Scientist of the Year” award for his work on improving water policy, particularly in the sustainable management and use of groundwater resources.
Enhancing capacity for system transformation
Strengthening and sustaining the enabling environment
Enabling gender and youth inclusion
Brokering knowledge for sustainability
Cultivating scaling preparedness
Fostering scaling partnerships
Co-developing innovation bundles
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 
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 
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 
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 
