Dr Inga Jacobs-Mata explores how science, local innovation and inclusive governance can strengthen Africa’s water security, food systems and economic growth.
As Africa grapples with increasing water scarcity, climate variability and growing food demands, the conversation around water management is shifting. No longer viewed simply as an input for irrigation, water is increasingly recognised as the foundation for inclusive economic growth, resilient food systems and sustainable development.
Ahead of WISA 2026, Water&Sanitation Africa spoke to Dr Inga Jacobs-Mata, Program Director for Growth and Inclusion at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), about how science, governance and locally driven innovation can help rethink Africa’s water future.Q: In your role at the International Water Management Institute, how do you position water as a driver of both agricultural productivity and inclusive economic growth across Africa?
A: At IWMI, we’ve moved well beyond the traditional framing of water as simply an input to crop production. We actually started 40 years ago as the International Irrigation Management Institute, but today our work spans the entire water cycle and looks at water research for development far more holistically. Within IWMI, I lead the Growth and Inclusion programme, which covers governance and political economy, economics and impact assessment, gender and social inclusion, as well as circular economy work around wastewater treatment, resource recovery and reuse. Today we see water as connective infrastructure. It enables jobs, supports women-led enterprises, strengthens agribusinesses and helps small and medium enterprises move food across the continent. That means investing in technologies such as solar irrigation systems that become productive assets for rural cooperatives. It means creating water-smart aggregation hubs that connect smallholder farmers with agro-processors while improving access to finance and markets. It also means supporting transboundary river basin platforms that allow countries to share data and cooperate. Ultimately, productivity gains alone will not transform Africa. The real question is who captures the value that water creates. When a young entrepreneur in Zambia can lease a solar irrigation pump through a pay-as-you-go model, or when a women’s cooperative in Zimbabwe can negotiate water allocations with a basin authority, then water has become an engine for inclusive economic growth. Our role is to ensure that the science behind these shifts is rigorous, locally grounded and ultimately translates into greater economic opportunity for the people we serve.The Ukama Ustawi Initiative emphasises partnerships for prosperity. What does locally grounded water innovation look like in practice?
Local ownership is really the make-or-break factor when it comes to scaling innovation. Too often technologies are designed first, and only afterwards do we ask whether people actually need them. Successful innovation starts by understanding the users, the context and the demand before any scaling begins. We need to assess whether an innovation truly fits the local environment, whether the enabling conditions exist, and whether people actually see value in adopting it. The Ukama Ustawi Initiative began as a regional programme but evolved into something much broader, a movement built around locally grounded innovation. Rather than imposing solutions from above, it focuses on bottom-up approaches where communities help shape both the design and implementation of new technologies. Innovation is never just about the technology itself. It’s equally about institutions, finance, policy, user behaviour and the broader environment that allows innovation to succeed.Why do so many promising water innovations struggle to achieve widespread adoption?
One of the biggest challenges is that we often take a supply-driven approach. We begin with an innovation and then try to identify a problem it can solve. Instead, we should start with the users. What are their needs? How do we design solutions with them rather than for them? If we get that right, adoption becomes much easier. The enabling environment is equally important. Many innovations fail not because the technology is poor, but because there is insufficient political will, weak regulatory support or limited awareness of existing incentives. We’re also increasingly recognising that innovations need to be bundled together. For example, an irrigation pump on its own is not enough. Farmers also need financing mechanisms, extension services, climate information, digital advisory systems and capacity building. It’s these complementary innovations that ultimately determine whether a technology succeeds at scale.Across East and Southern Africa, where do you see the biggest mismatches between water availability and agricultural demand?
The mismatches are quite varied. In basins such as the Limpopo and parts of East Africa, catchments are overallocated, droughts are becoming more frequent and downstream users struggle to secure reliable supplies. Conversely, systems such as the Congo and Zambezi basins possess abundant water resources but remain underinvested in storage and conveyance infrastructure, meaning productive demand cannot always be met where it would generate the greatest value. However, I would argue that the biggest mismatch is institutional rather than hydrological. Agricultural investment plans, irrigation policies, water tariffs and water resource planning are often developed independently by different government departments rather than as part of an integrated strategy. Policy should respond on several fronts. Firstly, water accounting needs to become core public infrastructure because you cannot allocate what you cannot measure. Modern Earth observation technologies now make this far more affordable than they were even five years ago. Secondly, land tenure reform needs to be integrated with water rights, particularly for women and customary landholders, because insecure tenure discourages investment in water efficiency. Thirdly, we need renewed commitment to transboundary cooperation so that river basins are managed as shared economic assets rather than isolated national systems. Countries that are succeeding are increasingly moving towards climate-adjusted, scenario-based allocation systems instead of relying on static water permits developed decades ago.How can governance frameworks better support smallholder farmers and agribusinesses?
Governance has to move from regulating enterprise to enabling enterprise.
Smallholder farmers and agribusinesses need an environment where they can survive those difficult early years and eventually scale.
That means digitising water use authorisations so that entrepreneurs are not waiting many months for permits. It also means recognising community water institutions and customary water tenure systems as legitimate governance structures rather than obstacles. Equally important is embedding scientific evidence directly into regulation. South Africa is fortunate to have institutions like the Water Research Commission. Working across Africa has made me appreciate how valuable that is because many countries simply do not have dedicated organisations capable of generating science that directly informs policy. The challenge now is ensuring that scientific research remains focused on real-world impact.
