DeVilag Management Meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus
(24./25.05.2022)
Following a long period of time, it was finally possible to hold a management meeting on site again. On 24 May, a management meeting with most of the partners took place in the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, where our esteemed partner University of Nicosia, represented by Kyriakos E. Georgiou and Prof. Edna Yamasaki, welcomed us warmly. Some more participants who were not able to travel were connected online and participated actively in the discussions.
As the project is in its final months, the meeting was used to explain the current status and to discuss the few open points. In this way, we can start the final phase as smoothly as possible and move cooperation forward. Fundamentally, the project is on the right track and the opportunity to hold a physical meeting was welcomed and appreciated by all.
In addition to the project meeting, the next day was used to share knowledge, with some guest speakers talking about agriculture and sustainable development in Nepal by Prof. Madan Koirala (Tribhuvan University, Nepal) and in Egypt by DeVilag’s project coordinator Prof. Hani Sewilam. The meeting was rounded off with introductions to agricultural policies in Cyprus and the EU by Mr John Mavromatis and veterinary services by Dr Katerina Lemoniati, both working at the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.
On top of that, there was also an excursion to the Agricultural Research Institute including both a presentation with more insights and a complementary tour through its experimental farm at Athalassa. The DeVilag team enjoyed the opportunity of this meeting very much and is motivated and looking forward to finalising the project soon!
Webinar on Education for Sustainable Development
(09.11.2021)
Our Project Coordinator Prof. Sewilam on TV
(28.10.2021)
DeVilag at Cairo Water Week
(27.10.2021)
The annual international prestigious conference „Cairo Water Week“ was held from 24th to 28th October 2021 at the Nile Ritz-Carlton in Cairo, Egypt. The DeVilag Team had the chance to offer a full day of exciting talks and presentations followed by inspiring discussions. The day was offered on 27th October under the title „Towards a Common Path for Sustainable Agriculture Management in Egypt.“
We had the honour to welcome Her Excellency Nabila Makram, Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate, as a keynote speaker and Prof. Dr Mohamed ElShenawy, Adviser to the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research for international relations and agreement for scientific research affairs.
In addition to the talks of our official guests, three Discussion Panels were held:
- Panel 1, „Challenges of Sustainable Agriculture Development in Egypt,“ dealt with the needs and skill gaps of local farmers and how to use the potential of livelihood enhancement of the rural population lead to sustainable agriculture and preventing rural migration.
- Panel 2, „Education for Sustainable Development,“ gave insight into the developed programmes in DeVilag and also which future development up-to-date teaching and learning has to be accomplished under usage of technological advances to become more sustainable and available for a larger target group.
- Panel 3, „Opportunities for Sustainable Agriculture Development,“ emphasized the importance of organic and biodynamic farming and the inclusion of machine learning in agriculture water management to increase not only the overall efficiency of agriculture leading to economic success but also considering the ecological aspect of sustainable agriculture.
Moreover, a case study was presented about the SEKEM Wahat Farm as an example for thriving sustainable agriculture.
Interview on Interdisciplinary Engineering
(22.09.2021)
Away from traditional teaching methods and tailored to the needs of today and the future, DeVilag focuses on the development of modern curricula. Read more about an interview with one of our project partners Sigward von Laue, Heliopolis University, in which he talks about the need and importance of bringing together academic education and practical implementation: Interdisciplinary Engineering Programs Seek Practical Solutions for Agriculture in Egypt (al-fanarmedia.org)
Webinar on Opportunities in Agro-Food Chain in Egypt
(05.09.2021)
Webinar on Farm Management
(11.08.2021)
Webinar on Migration of Rural Communities
(05.08.2021)
Webinar on the WEF Nexus: The Agriculture Perspective
(29.07.2021)
Beyond the End of One's Nose
(08.07.2021)
Of course, the project has its focus on Egypt. Nonetheless the issues and challenges rural communities in arid regions face are not limited to one country. Since 2012, Heliopolis University is in contact with Dubai to tackle the same issues there as well. More details in the original article: On a Mission for Organic Agriculture in Dubai – SEKEM
Webinar on Online Learning for Agricultural and Rural Development
(28.06.2021)
The Center for Special Studies and Programs at Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s Academic Research Sector organized a webinar on „Online Learning for Agricultural and Rural Development,“ on Monday, 28th of June 2021 at 12:30 pm, GMT+2. The webinar discussed the challenges facing online learning especially when it comes to agriculture and rural development and the non-conventional approaches used to tackle such challenges. The webinar also introduced an overview of the DeVilag Project’s recent activities and its efforts in the field of agricultural and rural development.
Online Learning for Agricultural and Rural Development webinar was chaired and moderated by Prof. Hani Sewilam, Academic Director, Department of Engineering Hydrology, RWTH Aachen University. Dr Marwa El-Wakil, Head of Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s Academic Research Sector gave a welcome note, followed by a brief on the DeVilag project by Prof. Hani Sewilam. Prof. Sewilam also introduced some of the methods newly used in online teaching such as „Gamification“ and „Virtual learning.“ The webinar hosted two experts who tackled the webinar topic from different aspects. The first guest expert was H.E. Dr Hussein I. El-Atfy, Secretary-General, Arab Water Council (AWC) and former Egyptian Minister of Water, Resources and Irrigation, Egypt, who gave a detailed talk on “Enhancing Online learning towards promoting Non-Conventional Agricultural and Rural Development.” The second talk was by Prof. Mohamed Abdrabo, Head of Alexandria Research Center for Adaptation to Climate Change, Alexandria University, Egypt, who presented the climate change impacts on agriculture and rural development, also the challenges that meet the online learning and how to enhance online learning outcomes through hybrid learning.
The second half of the webinar was dedicated to introduce an overview of the DeVilag project. The representatives of the Egyptian universities participating in the DeVilag project presented the project overview including the study program objectives, offered degree, admission, and the MOOCs which shall be developed under each program. Also, brief examples of the services and activities offered by the DeVilag Service Offices to support the Egyptian rural areas: Cairo University, presented its Professional Master Program: Sustainable Agriculture Intensification, by Prof. Ashraf Alarnouty, Cairo University. Fayoum University, presented the postgraduate Diploma: Sustainable Agricultural Development, by Dr Mohamed Abdelhameed. Then Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development; introduced the program BSc in Water Engineering, by Dr Walid Sayed El-Dash and the program BSc in Organic Agriculture, by Dr Shaimaa Abo Hatab, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development. And finally the American University in Cairo, introduced the Graduate program, MSc in Sustainable Development, by Ms. Yomna El-Awamri. The webinar was broadcasted live, the audience interacted with the speakers, also it was streamed live over the CSSP Facebook page.
Webinar on Agri-Entrepreneurship: Starting Your Agricultural Start-Up in Egypt
(13.06.2021)
Webinar on Water, Energy, and Food Management
(28.04.2021)
Webinar on Agriculture Marketing
(26.04.2021)
Webinar on Saline Agriculture
(19.04.2021)
Webinar on Sustainable Development and Green Economy
(11.03.2021)
Organised by the DeVilag Service Offices (DSO) Heliopolis University and Fayoum University, a webinar on sustainable development and green economy took place on Thursday 11th of March, 2021. This time, several high-quality speakers informed us about important topics related to sustainability and the economy, also focussing on the umbrella topic of DeVilag: small-hold farmers. Firstly, Dr Adly Saadaway (Prof. of Agriculture Economics from Fayoum University) gave an overview of Egypt’s current situation by presenting several nationwide running projects. Through his presentation, it became apparent how well different projects address a variety of issues (desert land reclamation, agriculture extension, employment, etc…). Next, Lea Lensky and Victor Büchner (The CEOs of Holy Shit. Young Cradle to Cradle Consulting gGmbH) introduced the cradle-to-cradle concept, which is a relatively new way of thinking, especially in the Egyptian context. Cradle-to-cradle refers to a circular economy where all materials are either biodegradable or reused, making it a sustainable approach. Furthermore, Dr Omar Ramzy (Dean of the faculty of business at HU) informed the participants about Green Marketing and Sustainability Justice. He highlighted the role of education and social entrepreneurs. Finally, Dr Mohamed Abdel Monem (Senior Advisor to the Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa, FAO) gave exciting insights into the challenges and opportunities of greening Egypt’s agricultural sector. After presenting a number of difficulties faced by Egypt (saline soil, seawater level rising, pollution through agriculture, etc.), he also gave hope by showing how chances lie not only in individual behaviour but also in national policy. An interesting discussion, including engaging questions among the participants, followed. It gave all participants and the speakers the possibility to engage with each other and go a little deeper in detail.
Is Sustainable Agriculture with Seawater Realistic?
(26.02.2021)
For RWTH Aachen University’s second webinar, we are very appreciative of the large audience. Over seventy interested listeners took part in Hani Sewilam’s seminar on seawater usage in sustainable agriculture. Among several other things, agriculture challenges were outlined, such as various forms of salt accumulation hazards. After an hour of presentation, there was a one-hour engaging discussion among experts on multiple raised topics and all those present. Many important questions were raised and discussed. Participants also expressed their interest in further events and the possibility to review the topics. As part of the DeVilag programme, succinct MOOCs will be made available in the future. As these are still in the development phase, all DeVilag project partners are looking forward to sharing them with all interested parties as soon as possible!
Webinar on Water Novel Technologies for a Sustainable Future
(01.02.2021)
As part of the DeVilag capacity building programme, Prof. Hani Sewilam held the first webinar hosted by RWTH Aachen University in Germany. About fifty attendees were informed about water challenges in arid regions with a focus on Egypt, the driest country in the world, under the title „Produce More with Less: Water Novel Technologies for a Sustainable Future.“ The two-hour webinar received consistently positive feedback, so we are looking forward to offering more webinars soon!
NL-Masr Agri-Food Seminar About Saline Farming
Tackling local challenges in Egypt is no unique attribute of DeVilag, but also of numerous other institutions, universities, NGOs and comparable ones. Recently, a collaboration network between several dutch stakeholders came together with DeVilag’s close partner SEKEM. One of the network’s goals is to raise awareness of such challenges and host seminars on Egypt’s specific agricultural issues and how to approach them. The first NL-Masr agri-food seminar about saline farming took place last week, and many more are about to follow soon. If you would like to get more information on the first seminar, follow this link: NL-Masr Agri-food Network auf LinkedIn: 1st NL-Masr Agri-Food Seminar – Saline Farming
Webinar On Rural Sustainable Development and Sustainable Agriculture in Egypt Organized by Bibliotheca Alexandria
(16.12.2020)
The Center for Special Studies and Program at Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s Academic Research Sector organized a webinar on Rural Sustainable Development and Sustainable Agriculture in Egypt, on Wednesday, 16 December 2020 at 1:00 pm, GMT+2. The webinar discussed the challenges facing sustainable rural development and sustainable agriculture in Egypt, and their different aspects within the Egyptian context. It also presented some models that aim at supporting rural areas. The webinar introduced an overview of the DeVilag Project’s efforts in tackling rural development in Egypt.
Rural Sustainable Development and Sustainable Agriculture in Egypt webinar was chaired and moderated by Prof. Hani Sewilam, Academic Director, Department of Engineering Hydrology, RWTH Aachen University. Dr. Marwa El-Wakil, Head of Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s Academic Research Sector, gave a welcome note, followed by a comprehensive introduction on the DeVilag project by Prof. Hani Sewilam. Prof. Sewilam presented the DeVilag project’s vision, mission and how the DeVilag project supports the Egyptian rural-community. The webinar hosted two experts in the field of Sustainable Development. The first guest expert Prof. Khaled Abu-Zeid, Senior Manager, Regional Water Resources Program, and Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), Egypt, gave a detailed talk on “Water for Sustainable Agriculture Rural and Agriculture Development in Egypt.” The second talk was by Dr. Mohamed Bayoumi, Assistant Residential Representative, Environment and Climate Change Team Leader, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Egypt who presented practical models that tackled climate change and rural development in Egypt. The third talk was given by Dr. Sigward von Laue, Research and International Affairs, Heliopolis University, Egypt; who presented a practical experience on sustainable organic greening of the desert.
The second half of the webinar was dedicated to introducing the developed and modified graduate and postgraduate programs within the framework of the DeVilag Project. The representatives of the Egyptian universities participating in the DeVilag project presented these educational programs by giving the objectives of each program, the admission requirement and procedures as well, the study program structure:
Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development introduced the program BSc in Water Engineering and the program BSc in Organic Agriculture, by Dr. Heba Mosalem, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development. Cairo University presented its Professional Master Program: Sustainable Agriculture Intensification, by Prof. Ashraf Alarnouty, Cairo University. Then, the American University in Cairo, introduced the Graduate program, MSc in Sustainable Development, by Ms. Yomna El-Awamri. And Fayoum University, presented the postgraduate Diploma: Sustainable Agricultural Development, by Dr. Mohamed Abdelhameed
The webinar was broadcasted live, and the audience interacted with the speakers. It was also streamed over the CSSP Facebook page, and the webinar reached more than 6,300 viewers.
Management Meeting
(14.12.2020)
The last project year has started! To ring in the coming months and make sure things run as smoothly as possible, an off-schedule management meeting was held on Monday 14 December 2020. The aim was to review the encouraging progress that has been made despite the challenges of 2020. So far, due to the COVID-19 situation, face-to-face training sessions have been partially held online. Based on the positive experience to date, the team reached a joint decision on how to proceed. All participants consented to carry out all training henceforth online in the form of webinars and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
Webinar on online teaching and learning and 4 DeVilag study programmes (26.11.2020)
Again, it was time for a Webinar in the framework of DeVilag! This time, it was RWTH Aachen’s turn to inform the interested public about the project and its latest progress by Hani Sewilam. As especially during the current situation, online teaching and learning already is and still become more and more daily life. Hence, Richard Gramlich presented new approaches to this topic including MOOCs, Gamification, Serious Gaming and Avatar-based Teaching and learning. The Webinar was concluded by presentation of the four Egyptian Universities on their newly developed or modified study programmes within the frames work of DeVilag of which most already recently have been piloted and show early successes.
Pilot implementation of the four DeVilag programmes (01.10.2020)
After almost two years of hard work within the project, it shows visible outcomes for the broad public. Around October, the four programmes which have been newly developed or modified under the scope of the project started their pilot implementation. This is another important step to implement the programmes permanently into the university programme offerings. After the first semester, it will be evaluated of the teaching and learning outcomes were met and in which places potential for improvement can be identified. Having these, the rest of the existing curricula can be altered in that way to achieve be best programme possible.
Virtual Workshop by SLU
(20.08.2020)
As
previously announced, the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
continued with providing online content in time of contact restrictions. From
12th to 19th of August, SLU hosted four Webinars of 2
hours each on Sustainable Agriculture, Agrifood Value Chains and Global Trade
in Agrifood Commodities.
With no
improvement of the current situation in sight, these Webinars are the only way
to share knowledge in a participatory approach apart from self-teaching.
Virtual Workshop by UNIC
(29.07.2020)
Since the time until the physical meetings can take place again should be filled with online content like mentioned in the previous article “Adapting to ongoing travels restrictions” from 2nd of July 2020, University of Nicosia held their first set of Webinars in the last two weeks. During six days, two hours each, different topics under the scope of “Socioeconomic Factors of Sustainable Rural Development” where elaborated.
This Virtual Workshop was the first in a row of several live webinar sessions for WP4, which alongside with the on demand offering by RWTH for WP6, guarantee the promised training of the Egyptian partners, even though additional physical meetings will follow hopefully soon.
Introducing DeVilag Moodle and start of the MOOC & OER Workshop
(20.07.2020)
WP6 (Developing MOOCs as Open Education Resources (OERs)) bears a big potential to reach various types of target groups and stakeholders to both inform them and enhance their knowledge in the art of MOOCs & OER. From the beginning of the project on, it was planned to develop an online Learning Management System at some point in the project to disseminate the MOOCs. Each of the Egyptian partners will produce a MOOC during the project. For knowledge sharing purposes, RWTH planned a physical training in Aachen, schedule for April 2020 but which was canceled for the known reasons. Hence, it was decided to split the training into two parts.
First, there will be a MOOC itself on the subject of developing MOOCs, OER, Video-production, setting up a Moodle platform and Gamification. For this reason, RWTH Introduced the Learning Management System DeVilag Moodle earlier as planned, so that all the training related material can be uploaded there. The Course will be a mixture of pre-recorded videos, audioslides, assignments and additional material, that the trainees can work on self-paced. It will also prepare the second part of the training, the physical meeting later in the project, which will be used for seminars on didactics and working with the trainees on their already produced and developed material.
Project Dissemination Webinar (17.07.2020)
Even if normality is slowly coming back in most parts of Europe, travel restrictions and regulations of meetings for working purposes still prevents dissemination-, action-, and outcome meeting of DeVilag.
Hence, a webinar was organized by Cairo University (Dissemination WP-Leader) to reach out to the interested associated staff and students. Throughout the roughly two hours, several aspects of the project in terms of objectives and main activities, the developed program at CU (Professional master in Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (SAI)), the launching of the DeVilag Service Offices (DSO) and background to the project “Rural youth migration: Reasons, consequences and experience to control” were elaborated.
Adapting to ongoing travel restrictions
(02.07.2020)
The project’s nature includes capacity building such as physical workshops and trainings which have been planned throughout the three years of runtime of the project. Unfortunately, the still ongoing Pandemic impedes the implementation of physical meetings.
Despite the second big feature of DeVilag, being a mobility program, the EACEA decided to proceed with the trainings to avoid delays. Of course, replacing physical trainings for the time being through online content. Due to the above-mentioned points, complete replacement of the physical workshops in Cyprus, Germany and Sweden was and still is no option. Therefore, the challenged consortium adjusted and managed to organise webinars, as a first alternative. These webinars have a preparatory purpose to introduce trainees to the topics they then can enhance in the physical workshop, once travels are possible under safe circumstances.
The big advantage, in this case, is the availability of training to a higher number of participants impossible to reach through physical seminars with limited space.
Mid-term report - Half time!
(15.05.2020)
15th of May 2020 marked exactly 18 months from the starting date of the project (15th of November 2018) and that means: Time for the mid-term report!
Specially with the problems we had in the first year of the project like finishing the negotiations regarding sub-agreements with some partners, and subsequent thereto the start of the pandemic, it was not easy to implement the project at it was planned years ago and had to be adjusted. The partners had to reschedule some of the tasks e.g. equipment purchase for the implementation of the newly developed and modified courses, since retailers also had to restrict their activities. In the end, we managed to report good results in all the WPs. Currently, we are awaiting the feedback of the EACEA on the hard work and effort done by all members in the past 18 months.
Despite all restrictions, problems and issues during the implementation, this project is still tackling one of the major problems of both European and African countries: migration. This should be considered as reason enough to keep on working to enhance the situation in both regions.
Collaboration in times of social distancing
(26.03.2020)
Like all other fellow human beings, the consortium was not spared from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Management Meeting at SLU, Sweden and the International BiovisionAlexandria 2020 Conference at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt had to be cancelled, as well as the first training of the project under the leadership of RWTH, which was supposed to teach both technical and teaching staff in the subjects of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Open Educational Resources (OER).
Due to the pending Mid-term report in May 2020, there was no other choice for the consortium to hold the planned Management Meeting via video conference instead. This was the last opportunity for the Coordinator and the WP-Leaders to discuss open matters in the full extend of the consortium and to allocate further tasks required before the submission of the report. After roughly eight hours, the Meeting ended with very positive results, although there was the general consent, that future meetings should be done in physical form again.
Graduate Program Information Session (12.02.2020)
On Thursday, February thirteenth, staff members from Egypt’s top universities for sustainable development – the American University in Cairo (AUC) and Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development – met on HU’s campus to discuss AUC’s Graduate Programs in Sustainable Development with an audience of prospective students. This meeting served as a stepping stone towards achieving DeVilag’s second Work Package.
AUC is planning to introduce new courses into their Master’s in Sustainable Development program in Fall 2020 to focus specifically on sustainable agriculture and migration patterns. The new courses are as follows:
– Integrated Water Resources Management
– Water-Energy-Food Nexus
– Sustainable Agriculture
– International Migration and Development
AUC’s Master’s in Sustainable Development program already has an interdisciplinary nature; graduates can choose between four degree tracks (Green Technologies, Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Communities) offered through four of the University’s schools with the requirement that no matter which degree track is chosen, graduates must take courses from the other disciplines, but by adding an agricultural dimension that is specific to an Egyptian context it will be ensured that graduates of the program will enter the field with an adeptness for land managament practices not yet seen or taught in much of the MENA region.
Representatives from the Center for Applied Research of the Environment and Sustainability (CARES), the research center at AUC that coordinates the Graduates Programs in Sustainable Development, highlighted these program strengths to a room filled with interested people of all ages, and even numerous nationalities. Also heavily emphasized were the fellowships offered through AUC and a number of third-party donors, such as the Al-Alfi Foundation, making the two-year program much more attainable to a wider student base.
If all goes as planned, improving and expanding upon AUC’s well-established degrees in sustainable development will become a model for other Egyptian universities, whether private or public, and enable them to establish their own acclaimed degree programs in sustainable development that are catered both to the skills and needs of their degree-earners and their local agricultural communities. As for the near future, though, hopefully at least a few of these information session-attendees at HU will become some of the first graduates to help make these positive agricultural changes transpire. In time, this should forward Egyptians to once be awarded the status as some of the world’s most important, skilled and sustainable cultivators.
1st DeVilag Dissemination Meeting (26.11.2019)
The 1st DeVilag Dissemination Meeting, organised by the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC) took place on November, 26th 2019. More detailed information will follow the first impressions of the event soon.
Fayoum University President welcomes the delegation of the DeVilag-Project (07.11.2019)
Prof. Dr. Ahmed Gaber Shedid, President of Fayoum University, welcomed Dr. Sigward von Laue, Regional Principal Investigator (PI) of the DeVilag project which aims to steer migration through Sustainable Development of rural communities. The meeting was coordinated by the Egyptian European Program for Agriculture and Rural Development and the delegation from Heliopolis University. The meeting included valuable inputs from Dr. Adly Saadawi, Dean of the Institute for Research and Strategic Studies of the Nile Basin Countries, Prof. Dr. Kamal Ghallab, Undersecretary of the Institute for Research and Strategic Studies of the Nile Basin Countries, and Prof. Dr. Nabil Awadallah, Director of Development Research and Consultations Center for Sustainable Development.
Prof. Ahmed Gaber Shedid emphasized that Fayoum University is an active partner in the project along with other Egyptian partners as the American University in Cairo (AUC), Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development (HU), the Agricultural Research Center (ARC) and the Library of Alexandria (Bib-Alex). The project also includes European partner universities including RWTH Aachen, Germany, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and the University of Nicosia in Cyprus.
Prof. Nabil Awadalah elaborated that the project aims to create a diploma for sustainable agricultural development at the Institute of Research and Strategic Studies of the Nile Basin countries. The project is working on the establishment of a DeVilag Service Office to provide innovative technologies to support farmers and the private sector in addition to the development of educational programs to disseminate sustainable knowledge.
Access to the original article via: http://www.fayoum.edu.eg/newsdetails.aspx?id=32921
Work Package 6 Status Update
Developing MOOCs as Open Education Resources (OERs)
Beginning in November 2019 according to the plan, the team already started Work package 6 with preparing the list for purchasing MOOCs equipment in Summer 2019. This list was already submitted in early fall 2019 to counteract eventually upcoming issues during purchasing of the material. Since a rough schedule and content of the upcoming training session at RWTH Aachen, formerly scheduled for June/July 2020, was already done, the Consortium decided to prepone the session to April 2020. Upcoming activities will be identifying the trainees, which are send to Aachen as well as continuing work on content and schedule of the session.
Work Package 9 Status Update
Management - Introducing Wekan
Since the beginning of the Project, communicating tasks and deadlines was a major part of project management. With using the web-based platform Wekan, many issues have been solved. Instead of the obligation to re-read the tasks of every work package in its wholeness, the packages where broke down to its individual components and listed consecutively for better understanding. In addition, the listed display allows to have a clear view on upcoming deadlines, participation partners and uploaded files for each task. To expand the use of Wekan, a particular “board” can be created, in addition to the for all partners accessible board, for each work package in which tasks can be deepened to enhance effectivity in each package.
Work Package 1 Status Update
Needs Assessment and Analysis
During the Management meeting in Cyprus, work package leader AUC, represented by Dr. Peter Nasr, presented work carried out in WP1 (Highlights of Needs Assessment and Recommendations for DeVilag Future Curricula). Based on these recommendations, as well as strength and weaknesses analysis, AUC suggested adding two new courses and modifying two other in the Masters of Science in Sustainable Development Program. Through these modifications in the program, students will be acquire lacking knowledge in the fields of sustainable agriculture, farm management and water-energy-food nexus. The next step for AUC is to elaborate the comprehensive course syllabi for the suggested modified courses as well as course content, presentations, readings, handouts, assignments and exams.
Project Management Meeting
On 23rd and 24th of September, representatives from most of the participating partners met at University of Nicosia, Cyprus. Goal of the session was to update each other precisely on the progress of each work package, the project itself and possible upcoming difficulties included finding accurate solutions. After being kindly welcomed by Dr. George Gregoriou, Dean of School of Sciences & Engingeering, and Prof. Angeliki Kokkinaki, Dean of School of Business, the consortium also discussed facing future issues of cooperation and accomplishing the projects’ goals.
Curricula Development Workshop
Enhancing curricula and study conditions.
In order to finalize the work on curricula development a workshop was held in Heliopolis University, Cairo from the 17th until the 18th of July 2019. The target of this part of the project was to modify and re-orientate existing graduate and under-graduate programs in the four Egyptian universities to provide the market with qualified graduates who can contribute to achieving sustainable rural-development and agriculture and preventing migration.
The first day of the workshop was meant to clarify, which currucula from one of the participating universities is to be enhanced and what basic conditions can be changed to improve the status quo of studying. Main results of this considerations were firstly the conclusion, that effective and sustainable curricula must be developed jointly by both Egyptian and European partners. Secondly, the cooperation through student exchange between Egyptian and European Universities must be enhanced by aligning the local used Credit Hour System (CHS) with the European Credit Transfer System (ETCS).
The second day was dedicated to the answering of the tasks provided by the first day’s results. For that purpose, whilst considering involving the Egyptian partners, a detailed introduction into the European higher education system was given, starting with the Bologna Process in 1999. Furthermore, Mr. Kyriakos E. Georgiou from UNIC outlined the essentials of curriculum development and enhancement.
DeVilag Dissemination at FAO Water Management training (11.07.2019)
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Heliopolis University (HU), are cooperating to support capacity building measures through training for technical staff and relevant stakeholders. A training cycle started on February 24th, 2019 in the framework of the „Support Sustainable Water Management and Irrigation Modernization for Newly Reclaimed Areas“ project (TCP/EGY/3604). It provided technical staff from the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, as well as the Agricultural Research Centre and the Desert Research Centre training at HU. The topics included modules on GIS based land development tools, automated water consumption monitoring system, field survey and monitoring methods, as well as data analysis. In the framework of the latter two modules, on July 11, 2019, Dr. Sahar Zayan (ARC), Ms. Randa Kaldas (AUC) and Dr. Sigward von Laue (HU) presented the results of the DeVilag needs assessment, including the needs of small scale and subsistence farmers, as well as micro- and small businesses. Concurrently, the aims and goals of DeVilag were presented and feedback from all participants sought. It became apparent that further awareness raisin is necessary to disseminate the challenges faced by micro- and small businesses and farming operations, and a larger scale dissemination meeting was requested by severeal participants, to discuss the findings and issues at hand more thoroughly and in depth.
Dissemination to extension services
From June 23 – 28, 2019, two successive workshops were held by Organic Egypt a project by the Beruflichen Fortbildungszentren der Bayerischen Wirtschaft (bfz) and Sequa, which is working closely with two Egyptian partner associations: The Egyptian Bio-Dynamic Association (EBDA) and the Fayoum Agro Organic and Development Association (FAODA). Both, organizations look back at a long history of working with local farmers to support their development and transformation to organic agriculture; helping them improve their planting techniques and market their products. The aim of the workshop was to improve the internal structure, function and governance and to carry out a needs analyses, to enable EBDA and FAODA to increase both the number of associated farmers and the area of farmland cultivated in Egypt throughout the coming three years. EBDA strives to develop training, educational and extension materials for extension engineers, teachers in agricultural technical schools and among consumers. In this context, Dr. Hassan Abou Bakr, the head of Organic Agriculture at Heliopolis University presented the aims and preliminary results of the DeVilag project, concentrating on the results of the field analysis and the component of developing and modifying educational courses and materials in one of the workshops session. The presentation was received very positively by the participants and discussions initiated, how the DeVilag Service Office with branches at Fayoum University, Cairo University the American University in Cairo and Heliopolis University can cooperate with EBDA and FAODA. The participants considered that cooperation could add a further dimension to their organization which would contribute to the achievement of their goals.
Determining Farmers' Needs
Field trips by students and staff to evaluate the need of farmers in Egypt.
The trips served two purposes. First of all the data obtained will be used to update and improve curricula and to determine if new courses need to be designed. This will enable graduates to better deal with challenges they encounter, while working on a farm themselves, as well as to support farmers, by offering adequate extension services, when working as advisers. Furthermore, the visits where also used to pilot new elements for the course rural sociology, which in future editions will directly address the topics rural exodus and migration.
Kick-Off Meeting (16.12.2018-21.12.2018)
In the kick-off meeting all the partners institutions were present. The meeting started by a welcome speech by Dr Hassan El Fawal, Dean of School of Science and Engineering (SSE). Dr El Fawal highlighted the alignment of DeVilag project objectives with SSE and AUC`s strategic plan and objectives. Dr. Hani Sewilam gave an overview of the rationale behind DeVilag within the Egyptian context, the aim, and specific objectives of the project. The whole workload is divided into nine workpackages. The steps and objectives of these work packages and the cooperation between them were explained by the leaders of these work packages. Each of the work package leaders presented also his/her strategy for the implementation.
The consortium members agreed on starting the work with intensive needs analysis of the real rural challenges and identifying the push and pull factors for migration. Then based on the results, they will start developing the capacity building materials.
