The Drums Start Beating; The Opening of the IFWF3

The 3rd International Forum on Water and Food was opened with an African drum roll on November 14th. The Forum offers something for everyone.

The Forum will bring together more than 300 CPWF partners (from more than 50 organizations), policy makers, development professionals and other key stakeholders to assess the very relevance of its research-for-development (R4D) program and the progress of CPWF basin-level projects.

As Alain Vidal, CPWF Director commented: “This year’s Forum comes at an opportune time in that we will have to double production by 2050 in order to meet demand, but with less water.  There is a huge role here for science to support long-sighted politics: define the systems politicians are talking about and reduce the uncertainty that impedes agreement and investment. Without these, we really WILL be in trouble”.

A specific focus at this year’s Forum is on water and food for development in Africa, particularly in rain-fed and arid areas. In all three African basins in which we work (Limpopo, Nile, Volta), the capacity of rural communities to respond to climatic and market shocks is low, and effects of climate change may exacerbate water scarcity.

This Forum is not a conventional research meeting with multiple PowerPoint presentations and a focus on scientific methods and tools. It has been designed differently. As CPWF is a research-for-development program, the Forum emphasis is focused on linking research to developmental outcomes and creating a dialogue between researchers, development professionals and decision makers.

Day 1 focsues on setting the scene; keynotes will place the Forum and the CPWF research within the wider development context. A new and innovative feature of this third Forum is the heavy involvement of young professionals who will attend and play key roles in planning and implementing youth-oriented sessions. While many of the youth sessions will be held separately, on this opening day the youth team will help Forum participants look to the future of agricultural research-for-development through the lens of young professionals.

On days 2 and 3, the Forum will take a closer look into the six basins and key topics that are the backbone of the CPWF research-for-development activities. The sessions will emphasize cross-basin learning and sharing. Another innovative feature is the Share Fair lunch series. The Share Fair lunches  emphaize enthusiastic, informal exchange of ideas and knowledge. They will feature posters, round table discussion, Samoan circles, fishbowls, demonstrations and clinics.

Capitalizing sessions will summarize the Forum and focus on developing stories and messages pertaining to specific people, groups, institutions, initiatives, or events.