Call for Groundwater Management Fellows

The International Water Management Institute led Challenge Program on Water and Food project: “Groundwater Governance in Asia: Capacity Building through Action Research in the Indo-Gangetic (IGB) and Yellow River Basins (YRB)” invites Fellows for the training and research program on Groundwater Governance and Management.

International Training and Research Program:

“Groundwater Governance in Asia: Theory and Practice”

Period (tentative): November 13, 2007 to March 30, 2008 (inclusive of classroom sessions, cross-cutting research, field visits and concluding workshops)

Host: International Water Management Institute (IWMI), New Delhi office; Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee (Uttaranchal) and other partners with workshops in other basin countries

Basin Countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan

Organizer: International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Sri Lanka and its regional offices and partner organizations in the basin countries

Background

Globally, groundwater has made tremendous contribution to human welfare. The Indo-Gangetic basin and Yellow River basins between themselves use around 300 km3 of groundwater with value of groundwater used/year estimated at $13.8 billion. Sustaining the massive welfare gains groundwater development has created without ruining the resource is a key water challenge facing the millions of farmers and water resource managers of these basin countries. The capacity and skills of groundwater managers need to be significantly enhanced to rise to the challenge of governing the ‘colossal anarchy’ spawned by groundwater use.

This training and research program sets out to address the pertinent and very pressing issues of groundwater management. The rationale is that groundwater is an ‘endangered species’ that is threatened from overuse and degradation from many sides and that needs and merits attention, appreciation and protection from all of its users as well as the public suppliers and management professionals and institutions.

The course targets people involved in groundwater use and management at various levels and functions. Individuals with positions within groundwater development and management, groundwater research, capacity building and awareness raising will be invited in order to foster an inter-disciplinary understanding, communication, debate and partnership on the tackling of relevant and practical groundwater issues in the regions covered by the project.

Who is eligible to participate?

Junior and senior professionals and managers involved actively in groundwater management and research in the five project countries (Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, desirably working in basin regions, Fig.1) are eligible to apply and participate in the program. Preferably, the applicants should be affiliated with an established and recognized organization or institution in the region involved actively and mandated with groundwater management and research. Professionals working with Central/ State Groundwater Boards and related water resources departments, institutes, universities, INGOs/ NGOs/ donor agencies and all those interested in groundwater management and governance are encouraged to apply.

People involved in media coverage (content development and dissemination) on development and environmental issues and associated with a well-established and recognized media organization are also invited to apply.

Course content and training program for Junior Fellows

 The Course consists of two parts:

• A four week intensive class room course; and
• A 12-week training/ crosscutting research program under live field conditions

The first part will cover theoretical as well as more case/ region oriented aspects of groundwater, giving both fundamental introductions to the physical behavior and characteristics of groundwater, its use for agricultural production, social sciences, economics and institutions, policies and governance; scientific methods in research and field visits. Delivery of the course shall be through a well-balanced illustrative and conjunctive treatment of the various themes through case presentations, simulation games, field trips and discussion sessions. There shall be ample opportunities for cross-learning the regional perspectives of groundwater among the participants from different countries.

Cross-Cutting Research (CCR)- the practical fieldwork based component of the course is a 12-week program that involves three components- five weeks of field work followed by five weeks of data entry and analysis and two-weeks of report writing and presentation workshops. Participants shall be encouraged to go back to their individual country to do a small but well planned study or investigation on a specific issue that either provides them with better knowledge and tools to pursue their function after the course or it may be a research topic that fits into a larger research component of the project that is led by IWMI. During the first phase, the participants will select very interesting topics related to resource characterization and use, sharing mechanisms, formal and informal water institutions, energy and pricing mechanisms, groundwater pollution problems. During the CCR phase the fellows will investigate, through questionnaires, surveys and data collection, how groundwater is actually being used and how it relates to water availability, land use; agriculture, water and energy policies and other socio-economic factors in selected regions of the two basins. In the process, the fellows would directly apply the knowledge gained at the classroom-training program on the complex realities of groundwater governance in Asia and capture the same in the form of group reports/ case studies and individual theme papers.

Training Program for Senior Managers and Professionals (Senior Fellows)

 The Program for the senior fellows will be of four-weeks duration and comprise of the following two components:

• One-week exposure to the high level sessions on management and policy implications of groundwater governance and the global best practices.
• Three-week action research/ study visits to advanced countries (Australia and/or USA etc. ) in order to retrieve as much knowledge and information on groundwater management practices in the host country to understand some fundamental practices/ processes, conflicts and challenges faced in groundwater governance and the specific ways, policies and tools which have been developed and employed in these developed countries. Fellows will get a fair opportunity to interact with a cross section of active stakeholders in groundwater governance and management at different levels.

During and at the end of the visit the fellows will develop individual reports on these learning and contextualize these experiences for their own settings in the respective countries. During the first phase of the Course the senior Fellows visited South Australia state in Australia and Kansas State in the USA.

Training Program for Media Fellows

Realizing that groundwater is an inadequately understood, invisible and disregarded water resource in many respects, general and scientific awareness raising shall play a key role in future groundwater management. In order to support this media fellows with strong interest in development and environmental reporting are invited to participate in the course. The program shall follow that of the junior fellows described above but additionally some specific events of particular relevance to them shall be organized. The research program for the media fellows will be devoted to the development of a couple of news coverage, development of documentaries and specialized reports on relevant topics related to groundwater in their region of interest.

Resource Persons for the Program

Resource persons for the course and training/ crosscutting research components will be drawn both from the region and from world-renowned international institutions. The regional experts shall provide country specific local knowledge; relevance and applicability of theory and practice under specific settings and international experts shall strengthen the program through incorporation of state-of-the-art knowledge on technology, practices and global best practices on groundwater governance. Experiences from the interesting case studies from the first phase shall also be optimally utilized.

Cost of Course Participation

The cost of the course and training/ crosscutting research will be covered by the Project, including traveling (local/ international), course materials, food and accommodation etc. In addition, a modest per-diem shall also be provided to cover for additional incidental expenses. However, it is expected that the fellows will continue to retain their association/ liaison with their respective employers, and hence shall receive their normal salary and allowances during the duration of the course. The entire duration of the course may be treated as deputation/ attachment to the Program.

Course language

The entire course and training components shall be conducted in English.

Course Certificate and Post-Course Benefits

 All successful participants shall be awarded an international course certificate/ diploma in partnership with lead participating organizations. Participants will also have the opportunity to publish/ co-author their outputs of the action research in the form of international reports/ journal articles/ popular articles/ case studies/ media reports and course sponsored synthesis publications.

Equally, or more importantly, the participants will be part of a continuing international and inter-regional community/ society or partnership on groundwater governance and management that will ensure continued collaboration and knowledge sharing across various institutional and geographic boundaries.

How to Apply?

The course participants shall be selected through a suitably designed process aimed to provide fair representation to the basin region countries, professional disciplines/areas of interest, gender, experience and potential benefits. In order to be eligible for joining the course and training program,

1. A completedl application (in the prescribed format) has to be submitted to IWMI. (For application forms: Junior and Media Fellows or Senior Fellows)
2. In addition, for junior and media fellows, a written formal nomination/ recommendation from a superior of the organization for the total duration of the course is required.
3.  A well-drafted concept note, describing a research topic of interest and relevance to the applicant and how to address it within the training program should be developed and submitted along with the application form.

Senior Managers/ Fellows should submit with their application a note stating the motivation/ valid reasons for joining the training program and expected benefits. Suggestions on the name of a developed country to potentially visit for the action research phase may also be indicated.

Last Date for Applications: August 10, 2007

Completed applications should be forwarded on or before August 10, 2007 by post to Dr. Bharat R Sharma at IWMI, New Delhi and marked "GGA Application” on top left corner of the envelope and also by e-mail to gga@cgiar.org (with copy to m.ranawake@cgiar.org/m.bisht@cgiar.org) with the subject line “ GGA Application.”.

Further details of the training and research program and the relevant applications forms are available at http://www.waterforfood.org/gga. Interested program participants/ organizations are encouraged to visit the project website.

Any questions and queries on this training and research program may be addressed to either of the following:

Dr. Bharat R Sharma, Senior Researcher (Project Leader)

International Water Management Institute- New Delhi Office

NASC Complex, Dev Prakash Shastri Marg, Pusa,

NEW DELHI-110 012, India

Ph: +91-11-25840811/ 12; Fax: +91-11-2584 2075

Ms. Mala Ranawake

International Water Management Institute

Po Box 2075, Sunil Mawatha, Pelawatte,

Battaramulla, Sri Lanka

Ph: +94-11-2787404/ 2784080. Fax +94-11-2786854

First Training Course Material

Application Forms

Junior and Media Fellows

Senior Fellows