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MENA NWC Update
MENA NWC Founders Committee Transitions
to Interim Board of Directors
MENA NWC’s Founders
Committee met in Jordan
in February 2014 and
unanimously approved a
motion to recharacterize
itself as the Interim Board
of Directors with the same
membership and internal
structure. This decision
was necessary in or der for
the Network to apply to
the U.S. Internal Revenue
Service for tax exempt
status as a non-profit
organization. The
Network is actively
collecting nominations for
candidates to the
permanent Board of
Directors. During the two
-day meeting, the Interim
Board made several key
decisions:
Governance
• Welcomed Elisabeth
Kvitashvili as a new
member, representing
the U.S. Agency for
International
Development (USAID)
• Agreed to create the
Scientific Advisory
Council to include
renowned scientists and
researchers, answerable
to the Executive
Director in shaping
scientific research policy
and strategy
• Elected Muwaffaq Saqqar
as President of MENA
NWC and Chair of the
Interim Board, Harvey
Perlman as Vice
MENA NWC-funded researchers from UJ, TAMU, INRGREF, RSS, and
JUST present their research projects at the Water in the Arab World
Conference hosted by the University of Jordan in February 2014.
President of MENA
NWC and Treasurer of
the Interim Board, and
Peter Reiss as Secretary
of the Interim Board of
Directors
Researc h Progr ams
• Agreed to modify the
Annual Program
Statements (APS) for
the two small grants
programs, including
extending the deadline
for proposal
submissions to 31 July
2014
Upcoming Events
• Agreed that the first
MENA NWC Congress
will be in April 2015.
MENA NWC’s five
Thematic Partnerships
will meet at the same
time
• Agreed to organize
and convene a
workshop at the
International Water
Association (IWA)
Global Water
Congress and
Exhibition in Lisbon,
Portugal on 21-26
September 2014
Following the meeting,
the Interim Board and
several scientists
working on Networkfunded research
presented MENA NWC
and its technical
program the University
of Jordan’s Water in the
Arab World conference.