1.1 Data Collection Framework

Description:

1.2 Questionnaires & Interview Guidelines

Description:

The Questionnaires & Interview guidelines are the consecutive results of the previously developed data collection framework for example online questionnaires for agricultural companies and guidelines for focus groups discussions with contractual agricultural farmers.

Specific results:

• Farmers Interview Guide
• Students and Alumni Questionnaire
• Agricultural Companies Questionnaire
• Government Enterprises Questionnaire
• Professors Questionnaire

1.3 Needs Analysis

Description:

The Needs Analysis points out the results of the questionnaires and the performed interviews. The focus of analysis was put on two main sections.

1. A description of the profile of the graduates who are expected to work in areas related to agriculture and rural development. This includes a detailed description of the expected qualifications and market expectations.
2. The expected consultancy services from the university to help farmers to increase their farm production and their income, and the necessary know-how to support rural-community to enhance their living standards. In addition to the consultancy services required for the public and private sectors related to migration, sustainable agriculture and production.

Specific results:

1. Referring to the desired graduates’ profile, the analysis delivered the following qualification:

• Bachelors in agriculture/organic agriculture. Sustainable agriculture
• Previous practical training or internship experience dealing with farmers in an agricultural farm or equivalent
• Knowledge & understanding of the sustainability aspect of agriculture, entailing economic and societal prosperity in addition to environmental conservation and protection.
• Good communication skills to be able to approach and deal with farmers
• Practical hands-on experience with farmers’ problems and challenges.
• Previous experience in dealing with farmers.
• Knowledge of organic and sustainable pest protection methods, safe transportation and handling the crops, suitable crops, and what to do with the byproducts and marketing for agricultural products
• Good teaching skills to simplify and facilitate the transfer of knowledge to farmers
• Experience in resource management, the use of natural resources, and rural development practices.

2. The expected consultancy services from universities to help farmers are:

• Increasing awareness and extending education of sustainable agriculture practices to generic farmers
• Financing and marketing models for farmers to provide quality inputs and profits were the highest mentioned tools to achieve sustainable agriculture in Egypt.
• Technical support on the whole agricultural process from selection of crops to harvesting, the pre-fixing selling price of harvest.

2.1 Proposed Modifications 4 MSc/BSc

Description:

Based on the existing study programmes and associated courses, the available learning and teaching material is reviewed by both the Egyptian and European partners for improvement potential and also to indicate knowledge gaps which can be filled with newly developed courses.

Specific results:

The American University in Cairo:

• M.Sc. in Sustainable Development (SSDV)

Cairo University:

• Professional Master in Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (SAI)

Fayoum University:

• Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Agricultural Development (DSAD)

Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development:

• B.Sc. in Water Engineering
• B.Sc. in Organic Agriculture

2.2 Modified 4 MSc/BSc programs

Description:

Based on the proposed Modifications in 2.1, the existing programmes and their respective courses have been updated if possible or completely new developed if necessary.

Specific results:

The American University in Cairo:

• M.Sc. in Sustainable Development (SSDV)
• 90 ECTS in 2 years
• 6 updated courses

Cairo University:

• Professional Master in Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (SAI)
• 20 courses
• 120 ECTS in 2 years of full-time study

Fayoum University:

• Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Agricultural Development (DSAD)
• 12 courses
• 60 ECTS in 1-year full-time study

Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development:

• B.Sc. in Water Engineering
• 11 updated courses
• 300 ECTS in 5 years

• B.Sc. in Organic Agriculture
• 7 updated courses
• 240 ECTS in 4 years

3.1 DeVilag Offices‘ Business Model

Description:

Investigating the university bylaws to identify the mechanism under which these offices will run and how to be integrated into the universities’ administrative structure. One of the questions to be clarified is how these offices will offer services in some cases based on generating revenue (e.g. services provided to the private sector) and in some other cases without revenue (e.g. services provided to small-scale farmers). Under this task also the full description of the management and description of internal/external relations of the offices will be developed.

Specific results:

All four business models rely on a significant co-finance by the hosting institution, through the provision of infrastructure and related intangible costs. Similarly, staff costs of the higher management will be co-financed, since the positions are filled largely by staff members who will carry out their activities during working hours. Through relatively small fees that will be charged to customers and clients, additional and running costs can be covered. Although this approach makes it unlikely that the DSO will in itself become a profit centre. However, it was chosen, since it ensures sufficient start-up funding and a level of base finance that allows continued operation under challenging economic circumstances. However, the advantage of the decentralised approach chosen enables each partner organisation individually to develop and adapt its own business model further.

3.2 Necessary Infrastructure

Description:

Based on the analysis carried out in WP1, the needed know-how and infrastructure will be identified to achieve the purpose of the DeVilag Office. To stimulate cooperation with external stakeholders, it is crucial to have adequate infrastructure for this (e.g. labs for soil, water, and food analysis and infrastructure for organizing workshops and info seminars). The review of available know-how and infrastructure will be carried out to identify the additional needed infrastructure. The expertise available will be assessed in the next work package under WP4.

Specific Results:

As it is not allowed to purchase furniture or pay rent for office rooms from the grant received from the European Union, another source for these kinds of infrastructure had to be found. Fortunately, it was possible to win the support of the universities’ top administration levels so that this infrastructure was put into the project as its own contribution.

3.3 Four DeVilag Offices

Description:

Identifying the coordination team, task description and workflow. In order to provide professional services through the offices, a coordination team needs to be built around at each partner university. This team includes office coordinator and 2 assistants (to be reviewed during the project). Amongst others, the facilities will be used by the students following the new problem-based learning part of their curriculum.

Specific results:

In late 2020, all four DeVilag Service Offices have been launched and have offered approx. 50 events throughout the project’s runtime. Due to the difficult situation at that time the offered events were mixtures of physical and online events.
Additionally, the DSO network was able to start an extension project to add Alexandria University, Aswan University and the Egyptian Biodynamic Association as partners.

4.1 Knowledge Gap Report

Description:

The first step in offering trainings or workshop of course is to know which contents need to be covered by the offered events. For this, the knowledge gaps and required skills to teach the newly developed and/or updated courses as well the to provide good consulting services through the DeVilag Service Offices have to be assessment. Examples for expected skills are rural problem knowledge, ability to provide consultancy and advice for the external stakeholders from private sector and other stakeholders, dealing with optimization and trade-offs situations, knowledge about push factors of migration.

Specific results:

The assessment entailed a survey methodology using a web-based questionnaire. This questionnaire was designed to collect information about the characteristics and experiences of the teaching staff, as well as their perceptions and views, concerning DeVilag courses and the skills needed ahead of these. The outcome of the knowledge gap assessment can be summarized as follows:

• The design of the training program should account for the diverse nature of the target group, which consists of teachers belonging to different subject areas and who are at different stages of their academic career. Specifically, the results showed that main fields of specialization of the surveyed staff are agricultural sciences, engineering and technological sciences, and social sciences.
• The overall respondents‘ perception of DeVilag programs and courses, indicates that to a large extent these cover various important administrative and subject-related aspects. Most of the respondents agreed that DeVilag courses are well integrated into the study program to which they belong.
• In the assessment of areas of training needs, the results identified six thematic clusters that reflect not only the training needs of the teaching staff (Activity 4.1) as well as the expectations of various stakeholders and agri-food labour markets (WP 1, 2 and 3). These thematic clusters are „pedagogic and teaching skills“, „sustainable use and management of natural resources“, „agribusiness, management and entrepreneurship“, „sustainable food systems“, and „interpersonal and soft skills“. From a teaching staff perspective, these thematic clusters indicate that the training program should address both subject-specific skills and pedagogic skills.
• Responses from the surveyed staff indicated the need to emphasize entrepreneurship topics, value chain and product quality topics, together with marketing and consumer related topics, within a larger extent of the modules.
• The survey results showed that certain teaching and learning related skillsets should be strengthened within the modules including problem-solving, team-work and critical thinking.
• Regarding the respondents’ assessment of their own skill levels, two-thirds of the respondents deemed their pedagogic and technical skills very good. This included the ability to effectively supervise students’ work within the identified courses. However, close to 20% of the respondents deemed that their overall preparedness and pedagogic skills are merely satisfactory.

4.2 Traning Materials

Description:

To provide trainings and workshop of highest quality, the learning materials for these trainings of course have to be very well prepared and based on the outcome of the previous knowledge and skills gap analysis. However, due to the pandemic, which started right before the implementation of the first training schedule to be in Sweden in April 2020, the training material designated to be used in physical events had to be redeveloped again to be suited for online webinars.

Specific results:

The results of this task specifically are online available training materials which also were used during the online webinars and training events which have been offered in the framework of the project. These training materials are free to use and will also be available after the activities of the project have ended.

4.3/4.4/4.5 Traning Workshops in the EU

Description:

In total three training modules were planned to be held as two one-week workshops in Sweden and Cyprus and one one-week workshop in Germany, as RWTH Aachen also conveyed another one-week workshop in the framework of the MOOC development. The three modules all covered different aspect was module I (Sweden) focussed on Agriculture and Food, module II (Cyprus) focussed on Migration and Rural Development, and lastly module III (Germany) focussed on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus.

Specific results:

As written in 4.2, the one-week workshops had to be shifted partially to life online webinars and partially to continuously online available self-responsible learning material in the shape of MOOCs with pre-recorded learning videos, short quizzes and additional reading material. Yet, as at the end of the project in early 2022, most of the travel restrictions have been lifted, UNIC and RWTH Aachen offered to host meeting with an extended audience which also included field visits and presentations given by experts in the fields of Migration and WEF-Nexus.

5.1 Assessment of Needed Infrastructure

Description:

This task will include identifying the necessary equipment and lab tools to deliver the contents of the modified programs, then compare the needed tools with the available ones. This will result in a list of missing necessary equipment to be ordered following the EACEA rules. To avoid unnecessary duplication of equipment, some of the equipment mainly models for renewable energies and water treatment can be used by more than one Egyptian university especially the universities around Cairo. Therefore, coursed and project activities to be done in collaboration between the involved EG universities will be identified and reflected in the list of equipment to avoid duplication.

Specific results:

The equipment necessary to properly teach the newly developed and updated courses was firstly indicated, then cross-checked with the available infrastructure and then purchased or updated accordingly. As the purchased equipment consists of numerous small items, it can be summarized for the whole project as Lab equipment for practical laboratory courses, water desalination and wastewater treatment equipment, media equipment like computers and cameras, and agricultural machinery for practical field courses.

5.2 Four BSc/MSc Pilot Implementation

Description:

Pilot implementation of the four programs was be carried in two semesters during the last year of the project. The professors who have been trained in WP4 were teaching the new or modified courses making use of the gained knowledge. The EU professors were involved in supporting and providing advice for possible improvements.

Specific results:

5.3 Finalised Curriculum for Four Programmes

Description:

After the first pilot semester, the EG professors modified the process and the contents based on the feedback of the students, EU professors and quality control team. The same for the second semester. The modifications in the approach, teaching methods and contents were carried out before the end of the project but the regular review and modification will continue after the project lifetime.

Specific results:

The finalized curriculum of the four programmes was mainly completed in close relation with WP 2. As all programs are ongoing, the curriculum continuously develops, and the consortium has decided to one final internal QC control before the closure of the project. This decision was made to address the ongoing acquisition of knowledge, field practice and research revealing new findings, change of instructors and the general world situation.
All four programs were completely implemented and will continue to run at the four Egyptian partner universities. Covid 19 pandemic and its challenges brought this WP under risk and severely slowed down equipment purchase and piloting. However, through the extension it was possible to complete the WP. The courses were evaluated through internal and external reviewers as well as a course evaluation form for instructors, which supported self-reflection and included student feedbacks. All programs regulated listed their number of enrolled students, those who have successfully completed the courses. Furthermore, the lectures collected and instructors who taught and were involved in the development were counted. Through the support of the DeVilag Service Offices (DSO) cooperation between the universities and programs was made very easy and it became an attractive model, that several more partners are planning to join during the last weeks and henceforth of the project. The use of the purchased equipment has proven essential to the running and success of the courses.

5.4 IT Infrastructure, Labs and Models

Description:

After the assessment, the purchasing started according to the EACEA regulations with three quotations. Each university made the necessary space available. The equipment was delivered and installed before the end of the second year of the project with some minor exceptions to allow the pilot implementation to start and make piloting on using the equipment and facilities in the teaching process.

Specific results:

The equipment necessary to properly teach the newly developed and updated courses was firstly indicated, then cross-checked with the available infrastructure and then purchased or updated accordingly. As the purchased equipment consists of numerous small items, it can be summarized for the whole project as Lab equipment for practical laboratory courses, water desalination and wastewater treatment equipment, media equipment like computers and cameras, and agricultural machinery for practical field courses.

6.1 Equipment for the MOOCs

Description:

To record the MOOCS, special hardware equipment had to be made available at the corresponding Universities. In this deliverable, the requirements like HD-Camera, wireless microphone or specific interactive tablet and a computer to annotate the described documents, were decided and set up by RWTH Aachen. The partners checked what is already available at their institutions. Based on the results new identical hardware was purchased in the targeted countries. Computers, Cameras, Microphones and software were made available in an up to date version to generate valuable and modern contents. Each MOOC-creating University then locally purchased the new equipment based on quotations and select the appropriate least expensive company to buy from. The operation of the new hardware was done completely by the specific University.

Specific results:

The specific result of this task is the necessary equipment which was purchased afterwards. The exception was the AUC as they already had these kinds of equipment available at their university.
The necessary equipment was:

• Computer for Videoediting
• Camera
• Lens
• Tripod
• Lamp system
• Microphone
• Data storage devices
• Videoediting software

6.2 Qualified Partners for MOOCs

Description:

Initially, it was planned to have a one-week physical workshop in Aachen specifically for the partner institutions who are going to develop the OER-MOOCs. Due to the travel and contact restrictions, this was not possible for a long time so that another approach was pursued. First, a set of webinars was done to convey the background and basics theoretical information on MOOCs, OER, Creative Commons, video recording and editing to the selected future content creators from the Egyptian Universities. Afterwards, to increase the contact with the tutoring team from Aachen, only bilateral meetings with the single EG Universities were held and open questions and issues as well as pot. Improvements to the previously submitted materials were discussed.

Specific results:

After the set of webinars, bilateral meetings and feedback loops, all the Egyptians partners were able to produce and process video and audio material of adequate quality.

6.3 MOOCs Available on the LMS

Description:

The goal of this task was to have a first complete version of the MOOCs and upload it to the online Learning content Management System. This was specially set up for this purpose. As RWTH already has long-lasting experience, Moodle was used for this purpose.

Specific results:

Just as targeted, the first versions of the MOOCs have been uploaded in early 2022 to the DeVilag Moodle. The MOOC contained different kinds of material as short learning videos, quizzes, reading and additional supportive material.

6.4 Pilot Implementation of MOOCs

Description:

To get an overview if there are any problem with participating the MOOC that might be hard to discover from the development side, the pilot implementation is the best way to get feedback from the participants. The Pilot implementation was done in spring 2022.

Specific results:

A representative number of participants from all four Egyptian universities tried out the MOOCs of their respective universities and overall indicate good quality of the material and the usability of the MOOC. Some point mentioned were minor issues with the setting of the quizzes or the structure of the Moodle course room which the MOOC is offered through. These issues were solved prior to the MOOCs’ final deployment in summer 2022.

6.5 Final MOOCs Online

Description:

After the changes applied to the MOOCs derived from the outcome of the evaluation after the pilot implementation, the MOOCs were ready to be published for everyone. This step was in accordance with one of the overall intends of the project to increase education also by offering broadly available learning material without any limitations due to accessibility, distance, or financial issues.

Specific results:

The four MOOCs are now openly available for an undefined time even after the activities around the project end.

7.1 Quality Control Board

Description:

Bibliotheca Alexandrina formed a task force from its quality control experts. In addition, each of the participant organizations including applicant organizations assigned a quality expert to be a member in the quality board. The quality board members were the responsible body for controlling and monitoring the implementation of project activities. The board had the right to utilize different tools to ensure proper execution of activities according to the proposal and time plan.

Specific results:

The board was formed in the beginning of the project but was due to staff fluctuation not continuously made up out of the same persons for some of the partners. The board met gathered on a regular basis to discuss the currents situation of the project and any necessary steps to be undertaken.

7.2 Quality Control Guide

Description:

Quality Board members reviewed the quality criteria and indicators for each work package on a regular basis and accordingly included the needed tips and guidelines that help the implementing partner organization to achieve the expected outcomes.

Specific results:

The guide also involved sections for qualitative and quantitative performance indicators, bench measuring methods, as well as selected assisting tools such as check lists, examples, links to useful sites and tools, etc. The guide was communicated to work package leaders prior to the start of their work package implementation to be taken into consideration.

7.3 Annual Quality Control Report

Description:

The plan was developed annually and updated whenever needed. It includes the quality procedures for the relevant upcoming year. The report also includes the quality procedures accomplished, evaluation of results, as well as future recommendations.

Specific results:

Yearly updated version of the Quality Control report.

8.1 Dissemination Events

Description:

Every event, either physical or digital which presents the project itself, parts of its results or advertises the developed study programmes can be labelled as “Dissemination Events”. Apart from project-related events, informative sessions on topics like rural development, sustainable agriculture concept, applications, challenges and suggested solutions have been offered to all kinds of target groups and stake holders.

Specific results:

A total of 29 of events was carried out including: information days, interactive workshops, stakeholder meetings, expert consultations, and roundtables were conducted at the EG partner universities and Bib Alex where speakers and attendees were invited from different sectors: e.g. other non-partner universities, SMEs, NGOs, Ministries, donor organizations, etc. and in some cases will be open for public participation to maximize project outreach.
A detailed list of the dissemination events including information on the name, organisers, date, number of participants, place, target groups and a short description can be retrieved from the EACEA result platform under report 8.1.

8.2 DeVilag Conference

Description:

The DeVilag Conference could be described as the major dissemination event of the project. It should act as hub to demonstrate the project achievements, knowledge create, activities conducted as well as future directions and recommendation for decision makers and stakeholders.

Specific results:

Due to the good network of the consortium, it was possible to host a complete side event lasting one day at the well-known Cairo Water Week 2021. A total of approx. 250 people physically attended the seven sessions throughout the day. Through the involvement of H.E. Nabila Makram, Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs and Dr. Mohamed ElShenawy, Adviser to the Minister of Higher Education the project’s appearance was also present in the public media in Egypt.
A detailed list of the contents of the sessions conducted during the conference including the assessment of the side events by the attendees can be retrieved from the EACEA result platform under report 8.2.

8.3 DeVilag Website

Description:

The website of the project is the flagship of each project. Accordingly, it was launched very early in the project containing key information on the project and continuously updated with new development in the project.

Specific results:

The website was launched in early 2019 and since then continuously further developed and updated. It contains information on the key objectives and work packages in the project as well as links to the partner institution and the four DeVilag Service Offices. It also contains a section with periodically added “news” of major occasions like physical meetings/events, webinars or reached milestones of the project.

8.4 Publications & Visibility Material

Description:

Publishing articles, blog posts, social media profile and visibility like flyers, brochures and other visibility materials are the most effective way to be present in for different kinds of target groups over a long period of time. Accordingly, they have been developed in different partners’ languages to present migration and rural development concepts and project activities and achievements. The ARC of the ministry of agriculture assisted in disseminating those materials through its network members.

Specific results:

Different kinds of visibility material like flyer, brochures, mugs, mags, pends, stickers, etc. were designed and distributed during all physical events of different kinds.
The Website, the Facebook and LinkedIn account was and is still updated with articles, interviews, videos, talks, pictures, download documents and external data frequently by a selected media-author on a minimum monthly basis to really be more than a project description website. After the project lifetime it will be used by DeVilag platform to be the first information point for the stakeholders.

9.1 Kick-Off Meeting

Description:

The kick-off meeting was organised at and hosted by the American University in Cairo, Egypt. The representative from all participating organization were present and presented their selves, their institutions and their foreseen tasks during the runtime of the project. Additionally, general topics regarding the project’s management have been discussed like the management structure and decision-making process, communication tools and time frame, quality control and reporting.

Specific results:

See News article 1 “Kick-Off Meeting (16.12.2018-21.12.2018)

9.2 Consortium Plan and Reports

Description:

The Consortium plant was set up by the Management board in the beginning of the project and includes details of work to performed under each task, the responsible partner for the implementation and the payment schedule. The plan was updated according to a 3 months schedule.

Specific results:

Throughout the project’s runtime, 14 versions of the management plan have been developed. The final version can be retrieved from the EACEA results platform.