Arba Minch University (AMU), through the Arba Minch Water Technology Institute (AWTI), has secured a €1,411,192 research fund for a project titled, ACCEL-3R, Accelerating the Adoption of Water Retention, Recharge, and Reuse Measures in the Horn of Africa: Testing Multi-level Intervention Bundles to Trigger Socio-hydrological Tipping Points. Of the total budget, AMU has been allocated €263,000 to implement various research and capacity-building activities. The project will run from May 1, 2026, to January 5, 2029, and is funded under the INT–The Netherlands and CGIAR–NWO Research Programme II Water-Food Nexus call, within the grant scheme “The Water–Food Nexus in Rainfed Agri-Food Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Socio-economics and Governance.” Click here to see more photos.
Dr. Teklu Wegayehu, Vice President for Research and Cooperation, commended the research team for securing the ACCEL-3R project, noting that it reflects the university’s commitment to impactful research, innovation, and community engagement. He stated that the project aligns with key institutional priorities, including strengthening international collaboration and addressing real societal challenges. He added that its focus on water retention, recharge, and reuse will enhance agricultural resilience and sustainable livelihoods, while supporting local development through evidence-based solutions, capacity building, and technology transfer, ultimately contributing to improved food and water security in the region.
Dr. Demelash Wondimagegnehu Goshime and Dr. Samuel Dagalo Hatiye serve as the AMU Project Coordinators and Principal Investigators. Dr. Marthe Wens and Dr. Anne Van Loon serve as the Partner Project Coordinators and Principal Investigators from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA). This four-year project is also co-investigated by Tuma Ayele from the Arba Minch Agricultural Research Center, Hagerework Desalegn, and several partner institutions in the Gamo Zone of the South Ethiopia Regional State. These partners include the Gamo Zone Agriculture Department, the Irrigation and Lowlands Area Development Department, the Gamo Development Association, the Mekane Yesus Development and Social Services Commission, and KEHAZ Agro Services.
Dr. Demelash Wondimagegnehu, AMU Project Coordinator and Principal Investigator, stated that smallholders in rain-fed agri-food systems in Ethiopia and Kenya are increasingly exposed to drought risks and soil degradation. However, their ability to adopt adaptive practices is often constrained by technological, socio-economic, cultural, political, and legal barriers. He explained that the project addresses these resilience challenges by co-creating both top-down and bottom-up interventions that support vertical, horizontal, and technical scaling of soil and water moisture retention practices within the 3R framework, recharge, retain, and re-use measures.
Dr. Demelash further noted that AMU played a leading and coordinating role in developing the project proposal. This included organizing the ACCEL-3R proposal elaboration and full proposal writing workshop, conducting a needs assessment survey, and facilitating stakeholder meetings in Ethiopia after the project concept note was accepted by the donor. Dr. Demelash further noted that the project will sponsor and cover the educational costs of one PhD and its supporting one MSc student at the Arba Minch University Water Technology Institute (AWTI), making it a research, education, and community development initiative. He added that the recruitment and selection process for the PhD position will begin as soon as the northern partners finalize the selection criteria.
According to Dr. Samuel Dagalo, the project employs a systemic and inclusive approach to jointly identify leverage points at farm, community, and institutional levels, and to co-design Multi-Level Intervention Bundles (MIBs) with tailored scaling pathways that address multiple barriers simultaneously. He explained that the project will apply participatory approaches and agent-based modeling to examine how these interventions influence different types of smallholders and to identify combinations that can trigger positive socio-hydrological tipping points. These tipping points are expected to catalyze widespread and self-reinforcing adoption of the 3R packages recharge, retain, and reuse through the project’s various working packages.
Led by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the trans-disciplinary consortium brings together experts in adaptive behavior modeling, hydrology, agricultural water management, scaling strategies, legal frameworks, and gender equality. The project partners include Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA), The Netherlands; Arba Minch University (AMU), Ethiopia; the University of Nairobi (UoN), Kenya; and South Eastern Kenya University (SEKU), Kenya, along with several collaborating institutions such as the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the Irrigation and Lowlands Development sector (ILRL), ICARDA, and Aybar Engineering. The project will be implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, and Jordan, with key field activities in the Gamo and Gofa Zones of Southern Ethiopia in collaboration with local water, irrigation and lowlands, and agriculture offices.
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