by DeltaCAP team | Sep 4, 2018
On August 31, a delegation of LGED spearheaded by Chief Engineer Mr. Md Abul Kalam Azad visited IHE Delft to discuss opportunities for collaboration on capacity development in water supply, sanitation and hydraulic engineering and flood resilience.
LGED is a public sector organization under the ministry of Local Government, Rural Development & Cooperatives. The prime mandate of LGED is to plan, develop and maintain local level rural, urban and small-scale water resources infrastructure throughout the country. Amongst others LGED provides technical and institutional support to strengthen the local government institutions and serving local communities and other stakeholders.
LGED has an important role to play in the implementation of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP2100). During the visit ample attention has been paid to the mission and activities of DeltaCap and future collaboration with LGED particularly related to the capacity needs at local level. DeltaCap DeltaCap was represented by prof. Chris Zevenbergen (IHE) and Dr. Saskia Werner (WUR).
by DeltaCAP team | Aug 28, 2018
In joint effort between the DeltaCap project and the NWO-UDW project Strengthening strategic delta planning in Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Vietnam and beyond organized the training workshop Participatory Planning Tools for Strategic Delta Planning and Management in Khulna from 8 to 12 July at CSS Ava Centre.
In the training workshop 25 participants from the Khulna region were introduced to and applied participatory tools for delta planning, like participatory scenario development, delta envisioning support system, and MOTA-analysis. All this happened using a design charrette set-up, with Khulna and Shatkhira districts (the Southwestern coastal part of Bangladesh delta) as case study and for specific areas Tidal River Management (TRM) as a strategic option for development. On the first day the participants actively discussed the challenges and issues in the Southwestern delta of Bangladesh and were introduced to the concept of tidal river management (TRM), a possible strategic development option for the water logged areas in the delta.
The group visited on day 2 Beel Pakhimara in Tala, Shatkhira district, a beel were tidal river management (TRM) has been put in practice. The participants were able to ask local people about the impact of the project sofar and could observe what tidal river management means in practice. Although the project brings benefits like elevating and fertilizing the soil, issues in implementation remain: like continuous practice of shrimp culture unevenly distributes the silt in the beel, land owners are of the opinion that they do not receive sufficient compensation, people lost property and had to be relocated. The creation of tidal flood retention in the beel has also immediate impact on neighbouring beels and polder which due to the inlet of water in Beel Pakhimara have less issues of water logging and flooding. A strong message sent by the local water committee members was: tidal river management (TRM) is 20% technology and 80% socio-politics.
On day 3 the participants joined in the Tool sessions and developed scenarios, by downscaling the BDP2100 scenarios to the district level, and visions, and strategic plans for 2040. On day 4 we analysed the stakeholders in relation to the strategic choice in water and land management in beels: Tidal river management (TRM) Vs polder management. Using the MOTivations-Abilities analysis tool (MOTA) the participants assessed in a role play the motivations and abilities of various stakeholders towards both strategic options. The participants prepared a longer term plan for the Implementation of TRM and a voting session was arranged after the group presentation to identify which possible plan would get most support.
A final session was organized on day 5 and participants reflected on participation, the role of participatory tools, and implementing participatory planning activities. The participants shared experiences with each other on organizing and facilitating participatory planning activities and discussed together how one as a facilitator optimally support the planning activity. Besides Dr. Shah Alam also gave a briefing on DeltaCap project, Delta Centre and DeltaCap Apps to connect all trainees’s and follow up for in the future, building further capacity for implementation of Bangladesh Delta Plan.
by DeltaCAP team | Aug 22, 2018
On 5 th August 2018, DeltaCAP team members discussed the Delta Centre with Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury, VC of
the University of Asia Pacific and Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee of BDP2100 in the midst of.
other pressing issues (student protests). While considering himself as a not too active
player (you know, when you come towards sunset in a cricket match, you wind down playing, as you
know you have to stop soon), we benefitted a lot by listening to his carefully chosen words regarding the
Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 and a Delta Centre for training and knowledge dissemination. Prof. Choudhury mentioned
various points in which the development of BDP2100 was containing elements and concepts that are
new to the country, and which need time to land and be used. Capacity to do so needs to be created. In
his words, the advice is ‘gather and disseminate the knowledge on BDP2100’ as well as ‘use a
sustainable operational model to do so’.
In the picture, from right to left: Catharien Terwisscha van Scheltinga, WUR, Prof Jamilur Reza
Choudhury, UAP, Prof Shah Alam Khan, BUET, Kousik Ahmed, WUR/IWM.
by DeltaCAP team | Jul 15, 2018
A team of World Water Academy (WWA), Netherlands, will visit Bangladesh from 17-23 July, 2018 on a mission to discuss possible business/operational models for a Delta Centre. Ms. Agnes Maenhout (Director, WWA) is going to lead the mission with a mission member, Mr. Johan Oost (Project Manager, WWA). The objectives of this mission are to analyse current practices of training centres in Bangladesh with similar scope in the same and/or other domains in relation to their operation/management structure, and business model, etc.); to know about the level of education of professionals working in the field of water management in Bangladesh with the (future) needs, demand aligned with supply (offerings of vocational trainings) and experiences with life-long learning; and to assess the sustainability of the Delta Centre in the longer term after the completion of DeltaCap Project (2016-2020) with an appropriate business model. Through this mission of the WWA team, Delta Centre is expected to be benefited as being a self-supportive Training Institute to share the knowledge and skills through development and delivery of trainings. As the parts of this mission, the WWA team will attend various meetings with the institutional focal points, partners, stakeholders, and implementing agencies, and will also visit several training centres in Dhaka.
