Daily Times

The Australia Awards South and West Asia (AASWA), and financial support from the Australian Government have presented 2019-20 Australia Award Pakistan to the participants from Provinces of Pakistan i.e. Sindh, Punjab, KPK and Baluchistan after the competitive selection process to pursue a Short Course Award “Water Governance in a Federated System” at Griffith University Queensland, Australia.

The program graduation ceremony was virtually held on dated 17 December 2020 and attended by the Australian High Commission officials, representatives of the Australia Awards South and West Asia (AASWA), and program participants, as well as by officials from the Griffith University and the International Water Center to award virtual certificates among successful participants of the Australian Award Pakistan.

The programme was implemented in collaboration with the Griffith University, the International Water Center and other stakeholders, with the overall objective of the course was for 20 Pakistani water managers to learn about how water is managed optimally in Australia’s federated system. The focus was to introduce integrated water resource management as a concept that covers domestic, inter-provincial, rural-urban, inter seasonal and cropping competition. Cross-cutting themes across gender, social inclusion and climate change, the impact of water resource management agreements, policies and practices and their impact on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals were incorporated into the course.

The short course was provided participants with the opportunity to share their experiences with Australian practitioners and opportunities to network to consider the insights and perspectives of practitioners and professionals from both the Australian private and public sectors. The short course was covered the three modules 1- Organizational Governance, 2. Water for Agriculture and 3. Integrated Water Management related to water governance with overview on water governance in federated system.

The participants were progressively developed their individual return to work projects over the three course components, with support and guidance from the Course Leader.
On the occasion, Representative of Australian High Commission Pakistan, First Secretary Development Ms. Nazia Nur, addressing the audience virtually stated that Australia has been a long standing supporter of Pakistan in water sector and applauded the support of Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Upon the course conclusion participants provided an opinion on the short course award, on behalf of Irrigation department Government of Sindh, course participants Mr. Imran Aziz Tunio, Technical Officer, Project Management Office- Sindh Barrages Improvement Project, expressed his gratitude’s to the Australia Awards South West Asia, to the Griffith University, to the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to the International Water Centre and to the all resource persons and especially course leader Mr. James Kirkwood, Dr. Helen Johnson, and course coordinator Mr. James Morse on the successful completion of virtual course on ‘Water Governance in a Federated System’.

Mr. Imran Aziz Tunio further added that the Covid-19 Pandemic has disrupted this short course so this short course was conducted online and virtual tour of the Murray-Darling Basin, webinar series presentations and virtual discussions were very useful to understand issues related with Water Governance. The short course award guided us through the concepts and the importance of water governance and addressing the issues of water governance, addressing over-extraction of water, reducing water loss and wastage, and adapting to climate change.

On the successful completion of Australia Award Pakistan, on behalf Punjab Irrigation Department, course participants Mr. Muhammad Aamir Khan and Ms. Maria Saeed also shared his views about the water governance in the federated system, and extend his deep appreciation to the Australian Government. They urged that the future collaboration between institution of Australia and Pakistan will be very useful for water governance in a federated system.