G-77/PGTF Project on Sustainable
Rainwater Harvesting and
Ground Water Recharge in Developing Countries HRD and Technology Transfer
SECOND MEETING OF THE APEX COMMITTEE
As reported earlier, the Centre is currently executing a project entitled 'Sustainable Rainwater Harvesting and Ground Water Recharge in Developing Countries - HRD and Technology Transfer' with partial financial support of the Group of 77 (G-77) under the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund (PGTF) for Economic and Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (ECDC/TCDC). During the first meeting of the Apex Committee of the project held on 15th October 2008 a broader strategy for the implementation of the project was discussed and finalized. Following this, the second meeting of the Apex Committee was organized under the chairmanship of Prof. Arun P. Kulshreshtha, Director, NAM S&T Centre on 20th August 2009 at Pune, India just after the conclusion of an international workshop under the same project. The other participants in the meeting were Mr. M. Bandyopadhyay, Member Secretary of the Apex Committee and Senior Expert, NAM S&T Centre; Ms. Tanuja N. Ariyananda, Director, Lanka Rainwater Harvesting Forum, Sri Lanka; Prof. Ram Takwale, President, Indian Consortium for Educational Transformation (I-CONSENT), Pune, India; Mr. Vasant Takalkar, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Ltd. (MKCL), Pune, India; and Mr. Salahuddin Saiphy, Assistant Coordinator, Community Water Management and Rainwater Harvesting Unit, Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), New Delhi, India.
The Chairman welcomed the members and expressed satisfaction over the
successful completion of the Pune workshop on Sustainable Rainwater
Harvesting and Ground Water Recharge in Developing Countries - HRD and
Technology Transfer with participation of 29 senior experts and
professionals from 15 developing countries, thereby accomplishing a landmark
component of the G-77/PGTF project, and adoption of 'Pune Recommendations'
for implementation of RWH schemes in developing countries to resolve their
water problems. The Member Secretary of the Apex Committee, Mr.
Bandyopadhyay, updated the members on the progress made on various
components of the Project with respect to the Plan of Action agreed to by
the Committee. Mr. Takalkar emphasized the need for wider dissemination of
the information regarding the success of the model village, 'Hiware Bazar',
visited by the workshop participants, where integrated watershed management
including the Continuous Contour Trenching (CCT) method of rainwater
harvesting has made a remarkable improvement in the lives of the villagers.
Ms. Ariyananda presented a summary of the 22 papers/country reports received
from various countries, which would be edited for inclusion in the final
State-of-the-Art Report and it was decided that the NAM S&T Centre would
take care of the page making, language editing, cover design etc. of the
proposed report, which would subsequently be published in the form of a
technical book. Mr. Saiphy confirmed that a ~10 days training programme
would be organized by CSE in partnership with the NAM S&T Centre in February
2010 that would provide a platform for learning by sharing of knowledge to
eventually result in the sustainable efforts of the trainees for actual
rainwater harvesting, water use and water availability. An appropriate
training module and course material for the training programme would be
prepared by CSE by December 2009 in consultation with other expert members.
Prof. Takwale emphasized the need for introducing an e-learning/distance
education programme on the subject for all the participating countries and
proposed that I-CONSENT and CSE may jointly develop a curriculum for the
same and felt that a training methodology should be developed with the
involvement of the master trainers and a network of the master
trainers/participants be established. Mr. Saiphy offered cooperation from
CSE to I-CONSENT for the proposed e-curriculum development
The meeting ended with thanks to the Chair and other members of the
Committee.