Caribbean Lecturers to Learn about Using Water Management Toolbox in Education

BoxOver twenty (20) lecturers and researchers from universities across the Caribbean will meet in Barbados at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus for the first-ever Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Knowledge Management Workshop to be held in the region on June 5th and 6th, 2013.

The two-day regional workshop is being spearheaded by the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) in collaboration with its partner, the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) of The UWI, Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. The workshop will focus on the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Toolbox which was developed by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) based in Stockholm, Sweden and its partners.

The IWRM Toolbox is a free online database with a wide range of resources and tools that provide support in finding solutions to water related problems. It is a unique knowledge platform where experiences in water resources management can be shared.

The workshop therefore seeks to introduce tertiary level practitioners in the Caribbean to the IWRM Toolbox and to explore how it could be used in the academic environment of their universities to support their teaching of water resources management. The regional workshop presents an opportunity for these professionals to gain valuable knowledge that could help them establish a range of courses that are not currently being taught on water resources management; and help them share knowledge with their students on water management in a new and creative way. Representatives from the Knowledge Management team of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) in Stockholm will provide hands-on training to participants in the use of the Toolbox.

Addressing the Caribbean university lecturers at the opening of the workshop will be Mr. Peter Gibbs, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology of The UWI Cave Hill Campus. Other speakers will include representatives of the GWP-C and the CERMES.

Attending the workshop will be lecturers from universities and research institutes based in Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States Virgin Islands, among others.