Water4Change team organises workshops to develop a water-sensitive vision for Bhopal, Bhuj and Kozhikode

A workshop was organised in Bhuj to formulate a vision for the water-sensitive development of the city. It focussed on deriving a vision to tackle the wide range of challenges identified by a team of 40 members including 13 PhD researchers and 3 research associates. These were verified by subject experts from eleven reputed national and international institutions in consultation with the local stakeholders. It was a part of a series of workshops under the ambit of the Water4Change project. Water4Change (W4C) is part of a research collaboration to stimulate long-term research on urban water management systems between the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Government of Netherlands.

The workshop was co-organised at Kachchh University by the CEPT team and IIT Gandhinagar in partnership with Arid Communities & Technologies (ACT). The participants included a variety of stakeholders including the mayor, officials of the Bhuj Nagarpalika and Bhuj Area Development Authority, multinational development agencies, members of civil society organisations, academicians, researchers, and citizens.

The co-creation workshops to create a water-sensitive vision were also organised in the other case cities (Bhopal and Kozhikode). The workshop was organised in Bhopal on 5^th July, followed by Bhuj on 9^th July, and Kozhikode on 15^th July. The workshops received positive feedback from the participants. The next set of workshops will be aimed at formulating the transition pathways.

Consortium meeting organised at CEPT University

The workshop in Bhuj was followed by a Consortium meeting in Ahmedabad. The meeting was organised by the CEPT Team at the CEPT university campus on 11^th and 12^th July 2022. The two-day event included sandpit exercises and extensive discussions on transition pathways and the application of the same to the case cities of Bhopal, Bhuj, and Kozhikode. The set of events also included a presentation on the work of the Center for Water and Sanitation (CWAS).