Korban Participates in the Middle East Water Livelihood Initiative (WLI) Project

Dr. Schuyler Korban, Director of International Programs, participated in the Middle East Water Livelihood Initiative (WLI) annual meeting that was held in Amman, Jordan during December 2011. The WLI is a USAID-funded project led by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), a CGIAR international center located in Aleppo, Syria. The University of Illinois is a co-PI on this WLI project, along with five other U.S. universities, which operates in seven countries in the Middle East (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine) and partners with National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), regional universities, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

This meeting was focused on student exchange and regional activities as well as assessing outputs, and preparing work plans for the following year. This project is also planning to expand to include additional countries in North Africa, Tunisia, among others. The University of Illinois is actively involved in a research project at one of the benchmark sites (Lebanon) under the leadership of Dr. Prasanta Kalita and involving two of his graduate students, Joseph Monical and Kimberly Wojtulewicz.