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EMPOWERMed Tunisia launches its first Living Lab

Published 17. July, 2026

On 14 May 2026, the EMPOWERMed Tunisia team organised its first Living Lab on Water Resource Management in the Agricultural Sector in Central-Eastern Tunisia.

The event brought together around 40 participants, including researchers, technical experts and representatives of regional agricultural institutions. It created a collaborative space for dialogue, knowledge exchange and the co-creation of responses to local water-management challenges.

🤝 Broad regional participation

The Living Lab welcomed stakeholders from several departments of the Regional Agricultural Development Commission (CRDA) of Sousse. Their expertise covered rural engineering, water resources, irrigation management, soil conservation, agricultural extension, statistics and rural women’s development.

Bringing these perspectives together helped connect technical water-management questions with agricultural practice, institutional coordination and social considerations.

đź’§ Challenges explored

Across three thematic sessions, participants discussed:

  • water scarcity and increasing pressure on available resources;
  • sustainable irrigation and improved water-use efficiency;
  • climate-change adaptation in the agricultural sector; and
  • stronger collaboration between researchers, public authorities and local stakeholders.

đź“Š Participatory SWOT analysis

A central activity was a participatory SWOT analysis of water-resource management in Central-Eastern Tunisia. Participants identified:

  • Strengths: existing technical expertise, institutional capacity and ongoing sustainable-water initiatives;
  • Weaknesses: water scarcity, ageing infrastructure, limited financial resources and coordination challenges;
  • Opportunities: smart-farming technologies, climate-adaptation measures, stronger partnerships and national or international funding; and
  • Threats: climate change, recurring drought, overexploitation of water resources and increasing pressure on agricultural systems.

🌍 About EMPOWERMed

EMPOWERMed is a PRIMA-funded research project integrating water accounting, hydrological modelling, digital tools, socio-economic analysis and stakeholder participation. Its Living Labs enable researchers and local actors to jointly define problems, examine evidence and develop locally relevant responses.

🔭 What’s next?

The needs and priorities identified during the Living Lab will inform subsequent EMPOWERMed activities in Tunisia. The next phases should translate stakeholder input into clearly documented actions, assign responsibilities and define how proposed solutions will be tested and evaluated.

Source and further reading: original EMPOWERMed Tunisia update on LinkedIn.