We hope all is fine. Would like to update on some recent activities in the network..

First we are developing a series of video lectures on different aspects of spate – you will find the first three of these on the website – we are hoping that these will contribute to mainstreaming spate irrigation in education. Please have a look at the opening menu of the website.

Secondly the FAO Regional Office organized a meeting on spate irrigation in Agadir last year. This yielded very useful insights and updates on the state of spate in Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia and Mauretania. We invite you to have a look at the library section.

Work is ongoing on research in Sudan – on various dimension of the spate system – coordinated by HRS – that is also hosting the Sudan Network: sediment management, on farm water distribution, economics. The first results of this solution oriented and peer reviewed research can be found in tje Resources Documents.

Also – we want to document spate and flood based farming systems in more countries. Often the systems are there but remote and unknown and no systematic support is given or links made to good experiences and practices in comparable settings. We welcome suggestions for ‘new’ areas to be documented. Please contact us at info@spate-irrigation.org

Finally we very recently had a very productive get together of the four current country networks – and the plans for coming years are being finalized. We will soon (just wait a few days) publish these in the concerned country sections (Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia).

All the best

Abraham and Frank

We hope all is fine.

We want to draw your attention to a number of things.

There are many new “gems” on the spate website. In Pakistan we have started to scan the original land and waterrights documents and the first one is in the library section.  Also you will find the newengineering manual in the training section of the website. Furthermore we have been scanning a number of documents from the pre-digital age including groundwater studies in the spate areas of coastal Yemen and the historical Gazetteer of the DG Khan in Pakistan. We also recommend a very interesting document on floodwater spreading in Niger. You will find it all in the library.

Also the Double Degree course on spate irrigation between Haramaya University and UNESCO-IHE has started. In this first year it is with three MSc students, but we expect this to increase.

On the educational front: Five MSc students have started to work on spate irrigation systems (different aspects) in Sudan.

We also finalized a number of new Overview Papers on spate irrigation and flood based farming in Kenya, Morocco and Iran. Different Practical Notes are been translated in Arabic and Urdu. These are also available in the resource section.

On www.thewaterchannel.tv you will find several new videos on spate irrigation including a short introduction clip and the first few lectures from a larger series.

Finally, this year there will be a new edition of the short course. This time the course will pay more attention to all different types of flood based farming. The course will be in September, please register at UNESCO-IHE!

Enjoy the day,

Abraham and Frank.

We hope you are all doing well.

Here is a short update on spate activities!

New overview papers:

There are new overview papers on spate in different countries – Iran, Morocco, Kenya and coming soon overview papers on flood based farming in Ethiopia and Africa. We want to keep preparing these overview notes – as they help to spot the often still unknown – suggestions for documentation in other  undocumented countries are welcome, esp. in Central Asia and in South America.

Translations of practical notes:

Please check the documents section on spate notes – several of the notes are now available in Arabic and in Amharic whereas translations in Urdu are on the way..

Mainstreaming spate irrigation in education:

A double degree course between unesco-ihe and haramayauniversity in ethiopia has started. also we have started to tape lectures to be used in education. let us know if you want to know more.

Videos:

New videos are being prepared. please check out www.thewaterchannel.tv for an instructive video on the post 2010 flood rehabilitation work in the spate areas of Pakistan

Uncovering great wisdom:

The Hadramawt in Yemen is an area with a very long history in spate irrigation – with sophisticated techniques used such as traditional bed stabilizers, conical abutments and escapes – these are documented in a book of which we have a few hard copies to share wherewas the soft copy in Arabic and in English is available of course at www.spate-irrigation.org.

Scanning documents from the pre-digital years:

We have started to scan several ‘old’ but very useful documents (essentially Phil Lawrence’s library) and will start placing them in the library section – studies on flows and hydrologeology etc.

Upcoming – google maps:

(courtesy John Ratsey) We hope to soon put in a link to several spate sites on google maps.

We look forward to hear from you – for suggestions, request, contributions, please mail: info@spate-irrigation.org.

Have a nice day

Abraham and Frank

We hope you are all doing fine!

We would like to update you on some news on spate:

First of all and very important, the collaboration with ifad under the heading ‘spate irrigation for poverty alleviation and rural growth’ has gone off to go a start. under this program the network will be strengthened – in particular in four countries (Yemen, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Sudan); cross country pilot activities will be undertaken, the practical knowledge base will be strengthened (with more and translated practical notes), support to mainstreaming spate in education a, support to policies in the different countries and also hands-on support to a number of ifad projects.

We also want to ask you for ideas on a number of fronts: we want to document spate systems in lesser known countries; get innovative work and documentation-like msc research work going; put together a videos on spate irrigation to familiarize those not so familiar. Please write us with suggestions and proposals.

Also, we are happy to have a number of very special documents in the library – in particular (1) the documentation of traditional irrigation systems in the hadramawt in yemen – incl some very sophisticated spate systems and (2) the  irrigation magnum opus of the gash system by swan – the latter scanned with the help of ian.

We are in the process by the way of revamping the website!

Also we want to alert you to the summer course again in delft from 5-16 september 2011 – for details pls see: http://www.unesco-ihe.org/Education/Short-courses/Regular-short-courses/Spate-Irrigation-and-Water-Management-under-Drought-and-Water-Scarcity

Have a very nice day

Abraham and Frank

Dear members,

We hope you are all fine. We want to share with you a lot of good news!

First is that IFAD has made a substantial grant available to the Spate Irrigation Network. This will help to bring the network \’one level up\’. The grant is for strengthening the network in four countries; for undertaking pilots on the basis of good practices in one countries – transferring these to another country; for strengthening education in spate irrigation; for small research grants for students; for supporting policy work and for providing support to IFAD projects. IFAD is a consistent development investor in spate irrigation. We are grateful and are happy for the cooperation with IFAD.

We also concluded a very useful workshop with participants from 10 plus countries on mainstreaming spate irrigation in higher education. This workshop was undertaken in partnership with UNW-DPC and FAO. Plans for mainstreaming were prepared for seven countries. A website with the resource material and the plans has been created. This website will also serve as the workspace for supporting the inclusion of spate irrigation in the curricula of universities and polytecnics – something dearly missing. The site is: http://www.unwater.unu.edu/workshops/ The login and password of the website is: \’water\’ and \’agriculture\’.

The Guidelines for Spate Irrigation appeared in August and are being circulated. They can be downloaded through the special page of FAO: http://www.fao.org/nr/water/news/spatemeeting.html

A limited number of hard copies are still available for members of the Spate Irrigation Network. Please write a small motivation including your postal address to FAO: JeanMarc.Faures@fao.org . Copies are available on a first come basis.

We are also working with World Bank in Pakistan on a follow up of the first phase of strengthening the Pakistan network – with a small convening and facilitating unit set-up at PARC and SPO. For more information please contact: knawaz99@yahoo.com .

Then also there are some important new document in the library of www.spate-irrigation.org – including a paper on using the sowbug (a crustacean) to improve the infiltration of flood water; MSc thesis on spate irrigation in Sindh (Pakistan) and new country documents on Morocco, Sudan and Tanzania. Also TheWaterChannel has a video on air on flood water spreading in Iran: http://www.thewaterchannel.tv/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=53&video_id=670

Have a nice day!

Abraham and Frank