Workshop Integrated Water Resources Management Master Program Retreat
On May 17−18 2019 Kazakh-German University hosted theWorkshop «Integrated Water Resources Management Master Program Retreat” with the participation of more than 70 representatives from Central Asian government structures, local and international partners, UNESCO Chairs and research institutes, partner Universities from Central Asia, and Alumnus of the IWRM Master program from each CA countries.
In the framework of the «Berlin Process”, initiated by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an interdisciplinary M.A. — program «Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)” is implemented at Kazakh-German University since 2009 in cooperation with the FreieUniversität in Berlin/Germany. The program is aimed at training young professionals from Central Asia and Afghanistan, and preparing the leaders of tomorrow as integrated water resources management professionals to help solve the Central Asia water problems on regional and national levels.
The IWRM Master Program retreat provided information and working sessions on the program’s approaches and progress. The 2 days' retreat showcased experiences and good practices developed since the program was established in the region and defined future objectives together with the partners.
Initial partners of the Workshop were the Kazakh-German University; Federal Foreign Office (AuswärtigesAmt) of Germany represented by German Consulate General in Almaty and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The opening remarks of the workshop was given by the President of Kazakh-German University Dr. Lazlo Ungvari, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Almaty Mr. Jorn Rosenberg and DAAD Information Center in Almaty Mr. Bartholomäus Minkowski.
Two days' workshop had an interactive format and was divided into five main sessions. Education session «IWRM education in DKU”presented the achievements of the IWRM Master’s Program during the last 10 years and evaluate its progress in the framework of the Berlin Process (Water Initiative for Central Asia). The participants had a chance to get more familiar with the structure of the master program and its’s modules presented by professor TilmanRost from FreieUniversität Berlin. The students from Afghanistan and Turkmenistan and alumni from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan showed the internal experience of their study at the IWRM Master’s Program at DKU and opportunities after graduation.
Panel discussion «The Role of DKU IWRM master program in the development of water sector of Central Asian states” showed how the IWRM Master Program could respond to the current needs of the sector focusing on building and improving the capacity of the water managers and scientists. The IWRM master program practices the transferring of international advanced knowledge and best practices in the field of water management to future decision makers. The main objective of this Master Program is to contribute to the overall development of the management of water and related resources in Central Asia at the national and interstate levels. It is achieved by building the capacity of professionals. The opinion of the main partners as USAID, World Bank, CAREC, IFAS, CAIAG and others was taking in the account during the discussion of the new prospects of the IMRM Master program future development.
Group discussion «New approaches in the implementing of new modules in the IWRM Master's Program of DKU” allowed to present and discuss the content and methodology of potentially new modules, which could be possibly integrated in the future module plan as Water and Sanitation, Governance and Water Diplomacy, Pollution and Water Treatment, and Water and Energy.
The UNESCO session «Cooperation in Education and Science in Central Asia” showed the experience of the work of UNESCO Centers and Chairs in Central Asia. Through UNESCO network, higher education and research institutions in Asian region pool their resources, both human and material, to address pressing challenges and contribute to the development of their societies. In many instances, the networks and chairs serve as thinktanks and bridge builders between academia, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making. At this session the way of how the UNESCO Chair and Institutes in Central Asia can help to develop and straiten the water related science and education was discussed.
The workshop on development of training courses in renewable energy was held on May 18 in the frame of the current event. The workshop had the following objectives:
• Exchange information on the teaching of renewable energy courses in the Universities of Central Asia.
• To discuss the directions and specializations of the new Renewable Energy study courses in German-Kazakh University (GKU).
Within the framework of this event, representatives of Universities of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) presented their training programs in renewable energy and told about training, student practice, laboratories, etc. After lunch, DKU staff met with professors from Germany to discuss further cooperation to create curricula on renewable energy.
The principle aim of the IWRM Master Program Retreat was to examine the current state of the program and asses how master study courses are being implemented around the Central Asia region following the major objectives being pursued during Berlin Process. The focus of the event was on the implementation of the IWRM Master Program and new approaches in the education of water management in Central Asia. The format of the event allowed sharing the opinion of all interested parties and have an open discussion on the major results and most important issues for IWRM Master Program, and important steps in re-energizing the program.
