Productive land resources in Egypt are under multiple natural and human pressure that are leading to soil degradation and desertification. Agriculture land conservation is a high priority for Egypt. Several efforts have been undertaken by the government authorities of Egypt to reduce desertification processes and preserve land productivity but they have faced a wide range of obstacles, mostly related to : i) improper and irrational land use policy and planning; ii) lack of scientific knowledge and technical expertise to cope with complex problems; iii) absence of national, regional and international networking and an ineffective mechanisms for technology transfer, exchange of experience and cooperation at different levels. ILHAMEC project is intended to develop a postgraduate Master on Sustainable Land Management (SLM) within the curricula of four Egyptian universities supported by three EU ones adopting the strategy to first train teachers. During its life time, the consortium envisages to reach many results such as: studies, surveys, access to open digital contents, web learning tools, teachers training materials, an educational web-based simulation game on SLM, educational innovative video-lessons, new Master curricula, workshops and seminars. All the resources will be accessed easily, reused and adapted by the project target groups (mainly teachers, students and HEIs) at local, regional, national and European levels. Sustainability will be ensured by identifying individuals and groups or institutions that will take over its animation and moderation. ILHAMEC will have a strong impact within the same partners of the Consortium through the process of sharing knowledge, challenges and solutions. Additional stakeholders will benefit from the project as the main outcome is to spread knowledge and awareness on SLM issues and on the importance to improve quality in HEIs for increasing technical and analytic skills of young students.

The Middle East and North African region has faced one of the most critical refugee crises, with global consequences, especially for EU. Egypt has received more than 400,000 refugees from Syria alone with 30,000 of them being of school age and only 50% enrolled in public schools. While Syrian refugee children are allowed to enroll in public schools, the majority go to refugee schools organized by the Syrian community, since Egyptian teachers lack skills to tackle the needs of refugee learners. Refugee children are a unique learner group due to their prior traumatic experiences. There is need of a pedagogy focusing on refugees that most teachers, even refugee ones, do not possess. Refugee teachers in Egypt, estimated to 4,000, face considerable constraints in accessing certified in-service training. NGOs and other organizations have gone some way to addressing refugee children’s schooling, but their interventions are very limited and not tied to educational pathways that lead to certified lasting programs. Both Egyptian and refugee teachers should undergo training to gain awareness of the refugee experience as well as the cultural backgrounds of refugee learners so that they can be responsive to refugee needs and sensitive to trauma reactions. These problems and challenges could be tackled through the development of an innovative in-service teacher certification program enabled by blended learning, established in the faculties of education. ReTeCp responds to a cross-cutting priority by giving access to refugee teachers to the Egyptian HEIs through a post-graduate diploma focusing on these issues. By the end of ReTeCp project, about 700 teachers, including refugee teachers will be trained and in the next 4-6 years years all refugee teachers and an increasing number of Egyptian teachers will be undergoing life-long certified training that will highly contribute to the right of refugee children for quality education (SDG4) in the host countries.