IsraelCast Episode 157

One of Jewish National Fund-USA’s most groundbreaking initiatives, the Kasser Joint Institute for Global Food, Water, and Energy Security is a collaboration with the University of Arizona, the Arava regional councils, and Jewish National Fund-USA, that seeks to find applicable solutions to food security, water scarcity, and energy poverty particularly in arid environments. The plan is to branch out into Africa and provide technology transfer, applied research, knowledge, training, ongoing guidance, and education. Host Steven Shalowitz sits down with Tania Pons Allon, Director of the Kasser Joint Institute, to discuss the challenges facing the Arava, a few of the projects the Joint Institute is working on, and her journey from Tel Aviv to the desert.

Tania Pons Allon is the Director of the Kasser Joint Institute for Food, Water and Energy Security. Through developing applied research capacity and exchanging relevant knowledge and experience between Jewish National Fund-USA, the University of Arizona, and the Arava Valley, the Kasser Joint Institute will have a positive impact on vulnerable communities, especially in arid lands, and will make the world a better place. Tania previously worked in the resource development department of the Central Arava Regional Council, a part of Jewish National Fund-USA’s Blueprint Negev campaign to make the region habitable for the next generation of Israelis. Prior to that, she was a designer in Tel Aviv.

For more information on the Kasser Joint Institute for Food, Water, and Energy Security, visit jnf.org/jointinstitute