Agree Winter School

From December 7-12, 2020, a virtual “Winter School” on the subject of sustainability of Agri-ecological systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) took place under the title “AGREE”. The Section of International Agricultural Policy and Environmental Governance at the University of Kassel, headed by Andreas Thiel, organized the event together with partners in the region. These were the American University of Beirut (AUB, Lebanon) with Rachel Bahn and Abed Al Kareem Yehya, the Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire IAV Hassan-II (Rabat, Morocco), represented by Professor Si Benasseur Alaoui, the Institut de la Recherche et de l’Enseignement Supérieur Agricoles (IRESA, Tunisia), represented by Dr Olfa Mahjoub, and the Université de Carthage (Tunis, Tunisia) with Dr. Ayoub Fouzai. The team at the University of Kassel was led by Dr. Christian Schleyer as coordinator of the Winter School; further team members were Dr. Sören Köpke, Dr. Ariane Götz and Kai Buchtal. The event was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD )through the German-Arab transformation program.

From applications, the organizing team of the Winter School was able to select a group of 25, students from master’s courses and doctoral candidates from the four participating countries.

Originally the event was supposed to take place in Rabat, Morocco; unfortunately, due to the Covid19 pandemic, such a direct international exchange was impossible to conduct. Therefore the event had to be implemented in a virtual space, this was done with the help of the “Zoom” video conference software.

The program of the virtual Winter School included lectures on methods and theories, contributions from experts, and practical exercises. The core was group work on case studies from Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon and Germany.

In a feedback session at the conclusion of the week-long event,  participants and the organization team agreed: It would have been much nicer and more impressive to hold the event on site. In the virtual format, participants were missing out on impressions of landscapes and culture. Under the given circumstances, however, the virtual winter school was a complete success. It served not only to communicate knowledge, but also, above all, to exchange ideas, make new contacts and get to know new perspectives.

For the coming year, the consortium is already planning deepening and advancing its cooperation.