The proximity pedagogy allowed the implementation of a participatory approach targeting all the actors and beneficiaries of the SASS water resources. The agricultural user, at the centre of the project, was considered also the main agent to vulgarise the obtained results in terms of improving the irrigation practices in the SASS region.

The “demonstration pilots” component started in July 2010 and was carried out until the end of December 2013 for a total duration of 42 months.

The innovations introduced within the framework of the SASS III project lie in the technical achievements validated by the research and applied in arid regions. It opens up a new perspective for the integration of the “renewable energy-water” nexus to create a better valorisation of the SASS water resource.

Through the “demonstration pilots” component, the project aims provide the SASS users and decision makers with efficient solutions with a view of increasing water productivity while ensuring the efficiency of investments, the improvement of the framers’ incomes, and the conservation of the SASS basin. This component aims also to assert that the proposed solutions perfectly fit the diverse nature of the SASS region in the three North African countries.

The six problematic issues addressed by the demonstration pilots were identified by the institutions in charge of water resources management in the three countries involved in the SASS project. In total, six operational demonstration pilots were selected to address the problems of unsustainable irrigation water management.

Among the six demonstration pilot, only pilot 4 could not be implemented due to the conflict that occurred in Libya in 2011 (initially foreseen to take place at the central zone of “Oueds” and precisely at Oued Zemzem, 70 km from the south of Mesrata).

Néanmoins, la thématique de ce pilote a été traitée dans un autre site de substitution en Tunisie sur la même problématique, les mêmes potentialités et répondant aux mêmes attentes : le pilote 7.

Nonetheless, this pilot site was substituted with another alternative site in Tunisia (pilot 7) featuring practically a similar theme to what had been initially envisaged in pilot 4.