Egypt - Water is essential for agricultural production and food security. It is the lifeblood of ecosystems, including forests, lakes and wetlands, on which our present and future food and nutritional security depends. The Near East and North Africa (NENA) regions’ fresh water resources are among the lowest in the world: The quantity available per capita have decreased by two-thirds during the last 40 years and is expected to fall over 50 percent by 2050.

Reducing a person’s individual water footprint, combating collective and individual water misuse, overuse, and waste and is essential everywhere. Therefore, #EveryDropCounts - Water is life. Water is food. Water is your responsibility. The Every Drop Counts campaign aims to raise awareness on the rising issue of water scarcity, the importance of combating misuse and overuse of water, and the adoption of sustainable water practices.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation have implemented awareness sessions in two preparatory schools in Al-Minya and Kafr ElSheikh governorates in Egypt, targeting 140 students aged 9 to 12. The main objective of the sessions was to spread the #EveryDropCounts campaign message, which tackles three main themes: Water is life. Water if food. Water is your responsibility.

The first awareness session took place on the 23rd of March 2022 in Sawda preparatory school in Al-Minya governorate, where 70 school students attended. The second session took place on the 28th of March 2022 in Martyr Captain Mustafa Samir Badawi school in Kafr ElSheikh, where 75 school students attended. The session included a theoretical presentation that highlighted the sources of water, what the water footprint is and the difference between the direct and indirect water footprint. It also included statistics of food loss and waste in the region, the link between food waste and natural resource waste, as well as shocking numbers of the water footprint of different food and everyday products around us. The presentation ended with tips on how to reduce one’s personal footprint and how to use water sustainably. Sessions also included different activities that aimed to make the students think out of the box by guessing the water footprint of different items used in their everyday life, as well as coming up with solutions to combating water waste.

Overall, the participation rate of the students was very high, and they seemed very interested in the topic and the method of presentation. They were eager to ask questions and seek advice on how to change their behavior in order to make a difference. The #EveryDropCounts toolkit is available for interested parties here.

This activity is implemented within the framework of the regional project ‘Implementing the 2030 Agenda to reduce water efficiency/productivity and water sustainability in NENA countries’. This project is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.