Knowledge exchange on water and agrifood
A good connection between supply and demand is mandatory for successful project development. One of the conditions for the Water for Food programme to support bankable projects is that there is sufficient confidence that the business cases enable the desired replication and scale-up. This calls for an in-depth analysis of the competition and any realistic potential support from bodies such as international development banks. To facilitate this, knowledge exchange and support for feasibility studies are also important components of the new programme. NWP will organise several masterclasses at the local level to gain hands-on experience and learn more about local needs.
Simone Sweerts, NWP Water for Food team
“Through the masterclasses, NWP will bring several Dutch companies, each with their own set of competences, as a collective in contact with key persons from the private sector and offer them training and introduce them to innovative tools and services. The key persons will receive intensive, certified training in a multidisciplinary setting geared to knowledge exchange. We are explicitly opting for this setting to help build trust and a network, and to test the extent to which this approach is effective in creating concrete business leads. At the same time, its train-the-trainer model that targets leading companies will maximise impact locally. The programme will run through 2022, and we will use this period to examine how we can work more structurally on ensuring food security by drawing on the potential of the Dutch water and agrifood sector. Our longer-term objective is to establish a sustainable Water and Food platform where business opportunities can be explored and successful pilots be brought to the next stage of scaling up, replication or adaptation to other regions.”
For more information on the Water for Food programme and its opportunities for the Dutch water sector, please contact Simone Sweerts, s.sweerts@nwp.nl