At the International Water Association (IWA) Water and Development Congress and Exhibition 2023 held in Kigali, Rwanda, the International Training Network of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (ITN-BUET) and the IWA formalized their partnership to advance sustainable development in water and sanitation through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
The event took place on December 13th, 2023, in the presence of delegates from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WaterAid, CWIS-FSM Support Cell, DPHE, NFSSM Alliance, ENPHO, SNV Netherland Development Organization and other sector stakeholders around the globe.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by Dr. Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy, Executive Director of the International Water Association (IWA) and Prof. Dr. Tanvir Ahmed, Director of ITN-BUET, signifies a mutual commitment to identify converging areas of interest. This collaboration aims to establish the mutual benefits derived from this partnership and delineate the domains of collaboration, primarily in the area of capacity building.
Through this MoU, both parties seek to connect their respective networks with a shared focus on establishing transformative agendas concerning universal water and sanitation services—a critical aspect for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. By strategically aligning their efforts, they aspire to harness the power of collective knowledge, expertise, and resources to tackle the multifaceted dimensions of this global challenge. ITN-BUET aims to enhance its capacity building efforts in the field of water and sanitation, leveraging the support from the huge resource-base of IWA and its partners.
Dr. Vairavamoorthy expressed optimism about the alliance, highlighting the potential to leverage each other’s strengths to address pressing global water and sanitation challenges. Dr. Ahmed echoed this view, emphasizing the transformative impact such collaborative efforts can have in fostering sustainable solutions for water and sanitation-related issues. He iterated that ITN-BUET, with its long portfolio of developing capacity in the WASH sector in Bangladesh, can empower IWA’s Inclusive Urban Sanitation (IUS) agenda through capacity building activities in the Global South.
