MONALISA in Nablus: Stakeholders Join the Co-Design & Co-Innovation Process for Sustainable Land Management
On July 1, 2025, the MONALISA project took a significant step toward participatory land restoration with its first co-design and co-innovation workshop in Nablus, Palestine, hosted by WeWorld at the Royal Suites Hotel (Rafidya St.).
Organized by the WeWorld team (including Taysir Abasi and Ahmad Sawafta), the event introduced MONALISA’s Work Package 2 (WP2) to the local community and engaged policymakers, farmers, technicians, researchers, and community representatives in shaping practical solutions to tackle land degradation and desertification (LDD).
This meeting marked the beginning of a broader co-design process that MONALISA is implementing across its case-study areas. Thirty-seven participants took part in roundtable discussions and demo sessions focused on understanding:
-
Local perceptions of land-degradation challenges in and around Nablus
-
Existing land-use practices, constraints, and opportunities for improvement
-
Decision and data needs for policy and on-farm management
-
Willingness of stakeholders to participate in field trials and co-design of restoration options
The workshop emphasized dialogue and mutual learning. Participants shared concrete, place-based insights and expressed interest in continued collaboration, laying a strong foundation for MONALISA’s multi-actor approach, which puts local stakeholders at the center of solution development.
This first workshop is the start of several participatory actions planned in MONALISA’s pilot areas in Palestine. The insights gathered in Nablus will inform the next stages of the project, from testing sustainable land-management practices to refining decision support for policy and investment, to ensure solutions are both ecologically effective and socially accepted.
