DDC personnel Martina Jaskolski and Mohamed Mahmoud examine irrigation systems

Helping to improve the social and economic well-being of residents of desert communities, the Desert Development Center (DDC) is conducting a water management project in Abu Minqar, an oasis settlement in Egypt’s Western Desert. The project addresses sustainable and equitable water management in a community dependent on groundwater resources.

“The DDC is working with a national NGO and the local community to understand the existing water management system,” said Richard Tutwiler, DDC director. “They will then combine their findings on Abu Minqar’s specific hydrological and social circumstances with DDC expertise to devise and implement a locally appropriate and sustainable water management plan.”

In addition to the Abu Minqar project, the DDC is conducting research on citrus development, irrigation, wood shelter trees, small farm enterprises, tissue culture and animal production. As part of its service component, it has partnered with the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation to offer training courses for the Mubarak National Project for Settling and Developing Newly Reclaimed Lands. For the past 14 years, the DDC has trained approximately 6,000 desert residents in South Tahrir on sustainable desert farming techniques.

“We also provide training and field trips to students from Egyptian universities such as Ain Shams, Cairo, Suez Canal, Alexandria and Tanta universities, and have developed a program with the open education of Cairo University to train 200 students per year in a variety of subjects,” said Tutwiler.