Results

• Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia have finalized their Rapid Water Accounting (RWA) reports that will be transformed into case study briefs for further dissemination. The other countries are still working on their reports.
• The Maghreb countries engaged in a sub-regional exchange on the findings from the RWA between April to June 2020. The three country teams working on water accounting and the national multidisciplinary teams participated in a series of three learning sessions. Morocco presented the RWA of the Berrechid aquifer in the north west of the country. This exercise presented the ongoing aquifer contract in development. Tunisia presented the case of an irrigation scheme in Jendouba in north Tunisia, an area that is included in a large project of irrigation modernization. In Algeria, the case presented was the Hemiz irrigation scheme that is characterized with a fast encroachment of urban activities on the scheme and a potential for waste-water reuse to meet the gap between irrigation water demand and use. The exchange raised a lot of interest and willingness to cooperate further during the next cycle of water accounting. Around 50 people attended these discussions. 
• The Ministry of Water and Irrigation of Jordan and Ministry of Energy and Water of Lebanon indicated their willingness to move towards the institutionalization of water accounting within an existing unit or a new unit dedicated to water accounting. Technical online meetings were held between FAO representatives and IWMI-MENA supporting the design of roadmap for water accounting institutionalization.  
• The Advanced Water Accounting and Auditing (AWAA) roadmap has been updated in most of the countries and progress is being made to get remote sensing and modelling preliminary results of AWAA. As part of the roadmap, water auditing, also called water governance analysis, is to be implemented alongside water accounting. A draft methodology has been developed by the project and will be tested first in the countries interested in the institutionalization of water accounting with the support of IWMI-NENA. A team of four master students from the governance institute in Switzerland has supported the initial stage of the piloting for Lebanon and Jordan.

Capacity development

• A regional capacity-building program on water accounting and auditing was organized and combined online trainings, training for trainers, on the job trainings/coaching, of water accounting country teams supported by a team of international experts from FAO, with support from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and IHE Delft.
• Eight local on-the-job trainings were organized at country level and a national awareness event on rapid water accounting findings was initiated.
• The regional training for trainers on advanced water accounting took place during the Cairo Water Week in Cairo and Al Minya governorates in 2019. The first block of training targeted the group of analysts and aimed to refine the content of the long training that will continue in 2020 and 2021. Twenty-four potential analysts from eight countries participated in the training and contributed to preparing individual country action plans for the advanced water accounting and auditing.
• FAO source book on water accounting and auditing has been translated in French; methodology for Rapid Water Accounting (RWA) has been prepared; and posters on water accounting and RWA have been produced.
• A first series of 15 webinars was organised on “Water Accounting: the basics” in 2019. This series introduced the concepts and approaches of water accounting.  It was relaunched to new members of the community of practice on water accounting. On average, 20 participants attended each webinar. The second online water accounting webinar series “Water Accounting in Use”, started in 2020. These webinars combine international and country experiences. On average, about 70 participants per webinar joined. Access the webinar slides and recordings here. To receive the announcements, register yourself to the D group for Water Accounting.
• IHE-Delft have prepared a regional training on advanced water accounting targeting producers and analysts. The regional training combines virtual training using a combination of existing online trainings, specially designed e-learning trainings, and a long training for trainers for a limited number of experts from each of the eight countries with face-to-face sessions (this may be changed to online sessions depending on the COVID-19 situation).  The participants were selected based on their academic and professional experience by IHE-Delft. The participation to the ongoing FAO led webinar series is highly recommended to people interested to be selected for the training. Details will be shared in the next newsletter.
• In Jordan and Lebanon, two trainings on RWA and advanced water accounting were held in Amman and in Lebanon in February 2020. The training targeted junior and middle level professionals from different governmental sectors who will be responsible for collaborating in and collecting information for WA activities. This was an effective way to bring many professionals from different backgrounds to integrate their efforts and their perspectives for implementing the WA activities. The trainees from Jordan represented the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI), Jordan Valley Authority (WAJ), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC). Palestinian participants were also invited, where the trainees represented the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA). The total number of participants that attended the training were 28 of which 14 were female. Whereas, the trainees from Lebanon included representatives from the partnered ministries. The total number of participants that attended the trainings were 14.
• Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco provided learning opportunities to newcomers on water accounting in the three countries during the sub-regional exchange between the teams from North African countries. The participants have been able to learn from other countries experiences.

Resources translated and developed

• FAO source book on water accounting and auditing has been translated in French. Access the EN and FR versions.
• Methodology for Rapid Water Accounting (RWA) has been prepared.
• Posters on water accounting and RWA have been produced.