The IDIWATER project reaffirmed its commitment to sustainable development in Macaronesia, promoting cooperation, innovation, and the creation of synergies around water management as a strategic resource for the future of communities.
Within this framework, IDIWATER took part in four international events organized by the Atlante Project – Strategic Project for Supporting the Governance of Cooperation under the INTERREG MAC 2021-2027 Programme – where the projects approved in the first call were presented in each of the third countries included in this call.
Each of IDIWATER’s presentations began with an intervention from the ITC, the coordinating entity of the project, offering an overview of the initiative and of the common actions carried out in the four African countries where it operates. These actions mainly focus on providing local entities with training and infrastructure to carry out education and research in desalination and water treatment.
- The first presentation took place in Senegal, on December 4, 2024, in Dakar, where IDIWATER was presented by the ITC together with the University of Ziguinchor, a key institution in the project leading the implementation of an Inter-African Master’s program in desalination and water treatment.
- The project then continued in Mauritania, on February 20, 2025, in Nouakchott, where the ITC was joined by the University of Nouakchott, which shared the preliminary results of a study conducted during the stay of one of its researchers at the University of Angers (France) within the framework of the project. The study focused on the reuse of reverse osmosis membranes after an effective, accessible, and low-cost cleaning process.
- The third event was held in Ghana, on June 24, 2025, in Accra, with the participation of the ITC and the Water Research Institute (WRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), whose main objective in the project is to explore the feasibility of desalination as a solution for water supply in the Keta region.
- Finally, the cycle of presentations concluded in Cape Verde, on September 10 and 11, 2025, in Praia, in an event that brought together representatives of the ITC and Cape Verdean partners: the University of Cape Verde and the National Agency for Water and Sanitation (ANAS), both involved in the design and installation of a desalination plant for agricultural irrigation on the island of Santiago, for which field visits were conducted in the days leading up to the event.
The IDIWATER project, an initiative framed within the DESAL+ Living Lab Platform, is 85% co-financed by the INTERREG MAC 2021-2027 Programme (code 1/MAC/1/1.1/0022) and has as its general objective to increase public-private cooperation to address common challenges in the industrial water cycle through applied research.
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