From September 2008, every three weeks we will publish a "message from the field" that has been previously published in the book "Water Education for a Changing World, Messages from Alumni in the Field", made on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of UNESCO-IHE.
The stories present the personal and professional experiences of UNESCO-IHE alumni from all continents.The alumni “tell their stories”, on how they apply the knowledge gained, help to transform water management and continue to develop as professionals after leaving the institute.
The case studies illustrate the very topics of the symposium “Water for a Changing World – Enhancing Local Knowledge and Capacity”, held in Delft, 13-15 June 2007. The symposium was the highlight of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of UNESCO-IHE. These “messages” provided food for thought in formulating the symposium recommendations.
These stories document the challenges faced by many alumni when returning to their home country with new skills and, equally importantly, new attitudes. The messages present the diversity of real outcomes possible in this situation from success stories to stories which document the obstacles to innovation in many countries.
Two thirds of Kenya is classified as desert or semi-desert and it has just two main rivers, the Tana and the Galana, which is also known as the Athi at its upper course. These rivers are the lifelines of many rural and peri-urban communities by providing water for drinking and irrigation and rej...
I’ve been living in a city called “The city of the bridges”. So, I decided to study something related with water and I became a geo-hydrologist in 1985. I’ve been working for the Hydraulic Resources National Institute since then.
The main goal of Mongolian water management is to improve the management of water and land resources for food, poverty and nature. This can be done through research work and capacity building. This paper describes my experiences as a water resource researcher.
My name is Liu Heng. I am the Vice President of the Chinese Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute and Vice Chairperson of Chinese National Committee of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme, and also a member of the UNESCO-IHE Governing Board.
When I grew up and reached the age for education (the age of six), I joined the Medehanialm elementary and secondary school and completed my high school education in the field of science in 1986.
How many times in our professional life do we face the problem where we have to explain our ideas to non-educated or over-educated stakeholders? How many times have we disregarded an excellent project just because it was not presented adequately? Probably we will never know.
This article is the short and real life story of an engineer who has utterly devoted his life to water. Who has been trying to help people by ensuring much cleaner and clearer waters during his whole life. Who has been the witness of the lack of water. And although our hero has tried to manage a...
Sri Lanka’s Coastal Zone legislation provides for landward jurisdiction over rivers, streams, lagoons, estuaries, wetlands, and any other body of water connected to the sea either permanently or periodically.
My fascination with wetlands began a good number of years ago, even before I arrived at the railway station in Delft one cold night in 1997. Yet in retrospect IHE was to play a crucial part not only in nurturing this fascination, but also in shaping the outlook I would have and my own conception...
When we think about capacity building in the water sector, we tend to relate it to government organisations, universities or water suppliers. But how does the private sector, and in particular private consultancy, help enhance local knowledge and capacity?
