The WaterWorks2017 project is pooling resources from the 23 participating research programme owners / managers of 19 countries to implement a joint call for proposals, with EU co-funding in the area of closing the water cycle gap. It will support delivery of priorities identified in the Water Joint Programming Initiative (Water JPI) Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) in order to reconcile water supply and demand, both in terms of quantity and quality, and also in terms of space and time. It covers the following sub-themes: • Enabling Sustainable Management of Water Resources; • Strengthening Socio-economic Approaches to Water Management. WaterWorks2017 includes 8 organisations from associated and third countries in an effort to reinforce international cooperation. Additional Activities will also be carried out to further support the implementation and strategy of the Water JPI. The overall aims include: • Supporting the implementation and development of the Water JPI on priorities identified in its SRIA; • Pooling financial resources from participating national and regional research programmes and implementing a co-funded transnational and multi-disciplinary call for research and innovation proposals; • Pooling additional financial resources to implement a joint call for proposals resulting in grants to third parties without EU co-funding (through a Thematic Annual Programming action - TAP); • Overcoming the fragmentation of European water related research, development and innovation (RDI) activities while avoiding overlaps with ongoing actions co-funded by the European Commission and/or the Member States; • Improving the implementation of research and innovation programmes in these fields through exchange of good practices; • Contributing to the implementation of EU Water policies, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 6 and SDG 13, as well as the conclusions of the COP21 Agreement; and • Seeking synergies with international research programmes beyond Europe.

FASTER will reinforce research and knowledge transfer capacity of INRGREF related to innovative land and water management in view of climate change and its implementation through the use of Farm Advisory Systems (FAS). To achieve this, we will develop a sustainable framework for research capacity building, international networking and FAS practice. Strengthening of researchers and technicians of INRGREF and associated centres (IRESA) will be developed by EU partners of established scientific excellence in the topic (CREAF, LU) and demonstrated experience in economic impact and awareness raising (EFB, Vision), and integration into national policies (AVFA). The proposal is structured into 5 work packages, during 3 years and amounting 1million €, including: coordination; capacity building through training and staff exchanges; living lab stablishing through summer schools, e-learning and stakeholder involvement; project sustainability by monitoring, networking and governmental support; and communication through awareness raising and knowledge co-creation. Expected impacts to INRGREF and Tunisian partners are increased number of publications in peer review journals, mobility and international co-funding, increased international reputation, awareness and engagement, new skills and competencies, new services and employment related to FAS, and new research avenues.