International Symposium on Integrated Water Management organised in New Delhi

The Water4Change project team at the Center for Water and Sanitation (CWAS), CRDF, recently organised a series of national and city-level workshops. Water4Change is an international collaboration sponsored by the Government of India and the Government of The Netherlands.

These workshops focused on co-creating pathways and designing experiments to enable the Water Sensitive City paradigm in three secondary cities of India: Bhopal, Bhuj, and Kozhikode. The workshop design was based on a Dutch Transition Management framework but adapted to an India-specific 'repair' method considering local socio-political complexities.

The team also presented its ongoing work and deliberation at the UN 2023 Water Conference, highlighting the efforts and alignment of stakeholders from these cities in achieving the water sensitivity vision.

The Water4Change project team organised a two-day symposium at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on 21-22 February 2023. The event focussed on co-creating pathways and designing experiments to enable the Water Sensitive City paradigm in 3 secondary cities of India - Bhopal, Bhuj and Kozhikode. The workshop design was a spinoff from the Dutch Transition Management framework to a more India-specific ‘repair’ method that respected and highlighted the local socio-political complexities.

The symposium achieved the threefold objectives of upscaling towards national water management paradigms, an arena to learn from experts and cross-learn from peers from other secondary cities. The event was attended by city representatives and experts from across India. These included Mr Atirag Chaplot (Assistant Collector, Bhuj), Mr V P Kulshrestha (Bhopal Smart City), Dr Beena Philip (Mayor, Kozhikode), Mr Samrat Basak (WRI India), Ms Ashwathy Anand (WRI India), Shuchi Vora (Global Resilience Partnership), Mr Manu Srivastava (Arghyam), Mr Pramod Kumar (Development Alternatives), Mr Ratensh Kumar (CDRI), and Mr Rahul Sachdeva (NIUA), among others. Mr Rajiv Ranjan Mishra (NMCG, Govt. of India), Mr Depinder Kapur (CSE), Ms Anamika Barua (IIT Guwahati), Ms Annelieke Laninga, Mr Shilesh Hariharan and Ms Merle de Kreuk also shared their expertise at the Symposium.