Finalist

SDG Initiative of the Year Award

Water Harmony Global Initiative

Finalist of the SDG Initiative of the Year Award

Norwegian University of Life Sciences - Norway

"Fostering water leaders of tomorrow through harmonised education across nations"


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https://www.linkedin.com/company/water-harmony
(Official Water Harmony LinkedIn account)
https://www.facebook.com/waternorway
(Official Water Harmony account)
@HarshaOslo
(Harsha Ratnaweera's Twitter)

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Summary

SDG-6 seeks to ensure clean water and sanitation for all. Challenges that various countries and regions face have many similarities and differences. Most countries have ambitious plans to address SDG-6 on existing political and administrative structures. Their existing water supply and sanitation levels vary widely, especially human and financial resources. The SDG-6 challenges are long-term, and our Water Harmony initiative focuses on building sustainable national capacities through global harmonising of water education. Our network of universities produces graduates as tomorrow's political, administrative, and technical leaders and resource persons, ready with the necessary knowledge and skills to address these challenges.

The Water Harmony network was launched in 2012 by Prof Harsha Ratnaweera at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, initially with a Eurasian project. The network continued its expansion into Asian and African countries, followed by Balkan and Latin American countries and leading universities from industrial countries worldwide.

We create innovative and sustainable networks of professionals and students across national borders. The network of professionals is growing; not only through new projects but also when our students become professionals. The student network is increasing with the numerous R&D and educational projects.

We jointly develop courses with teaching materials to be shared freely. We frequently hold physical/remote courses, promote collaborative research with students and faculty across nations that result in high-quality research results and publications, and create an inducive environment for collaborative processes to improve our own educational and research capacities and competence while sharing knowledge among network partners.

Key People


Harsha RATNAWEERA
Professor and Founder of the Water Harmony Network
Faculty of Science and Technology,  Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway



Zakhar MALETSKYI
Associate Professor and Academic Coordinator of Water Harmony
Faculty of Science and Technology,  Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway



Agnieszka CUPRYS
Senior Researcher and Administrative Coordinator of Water Harmony
Faculty of Science and Technology,  Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway



Roman SMOTRAIEV
Professor and Water Harmony Eurasia Coordinator
Faculty of Chemical Technologies and Ecology,  Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology, Ukraine



S B WEERAKOON
Professor and Water Harmony Asia Coordinator
Faculty of Civil Engineering,  University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka



Francis M MUTUA
Professor and Water Harmony Africa Coordinator
Faculty of Science and Technology,  University of Nairobi, Kenya



Malik ZHEKEYEV
Professor and Water Harmony Central Asia coordinator
Laboratory of Ecological Problems,  South Kazakhstan University named after M. Auezov, Kazakhstan



Tore SÆTERSDAL
Academic Coordinator and Water Harmony Networking Coordinator
University of Bergen, Norway


Acknowledgements

The Water Harmony network was initiated with generous support from the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Since then, many organisations, such as the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (NORAD), the Norwegian Research Council, European Union and others, have supported the network's projects.

Images

Water Harmony network's partners

With 85 students from 22 countries in Spitsbergen 2016

Network meeting with staff from Asia and Europe

Students visiting water purification plans

Central Asia members visiting Norway

Founder Harsha Ratnaweera addressing the UN Water Conference, New York, 2023 March

Founder Harsha Ratnaweera at the UN Headquaters, New York, attending the UN Water Conference

Promoting females students from Central Asia to water education

Summer school with 45 students in 2022

Visiting Tajikistan

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

Access to safe water and sanitation is a human right and a national and global priority. However, the amount of water accessible, its quality, and how we use or misuse it to create value or conflicts vary widely among countries and regions, especially in changing climates. The people who manage and use this precious commodity are responsible for our future. Therefore, investing in people is a crucial mission for each nation and globally.

Young graduates today will become the leaders and decision-makers who form the cornerstones of our society, future and hopes. Forming them is one of the greatest satisfactions an educator can get. The more each student involves themself in activities with projects in far and near corners of the world, the more they understand the disparities, needs and the potential to create values that make a difference to their nation and others globally.

Our mission is to harmonise water-related educational foundations globally by strengthening curricula, providing joint supervision, and arranging training of students and teachers, creating a truly international arena for learning and collaborating. Partners join the network with various projects and continue collaborating even when the funds are exhausted. Our training creates new leaders serving in their countries. The most rewarding part is meeting alumni who have succeeded in serving their country by entering careers in the water sector, often reminiscing and crediting their impressive achievements to their fond memories with the Water Harmony network.

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

The world is changing more rapidly than just a few decades ago. Students and faculty have more choices than ever. In this landscape, social networking is an essential foundation for increased and continued collaboration. We ensure that we find time to build and strengthen our social network to create new collaborations each time we meet.

Despite where you come from and how knowledgeable you are in your field, there are always things to be learned from each other. It is not only professional knowledge which creates engaged and devoted citizens of the future; so too does their knowledge and respect for other people, their viewpoints, culture, priorities and so on. We engage our partners in intercultural dialogues and career development beyond their professional axis of specialisation and encourage them to care about global challenges where each local contribution counts.

Hierarchical management processes are often not sustainable in modern societies. Respect for the leadership cannot be demanded and should instead be earned. We found that involving all participants in decision-making based on broader dialogues, irrespective of seniority and position, creates ownership and secures long-lasting actions.

Forming tomorrow’s leaders is a much more productive endeavour than changing the existing seniors. Here the faculty has a unique potential to form tomorrow’s leaders by influencing their professional and life qualities. We found this to be the most sustainable and rewarding investment.

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

The Water Harmony network now covers universities from all continents. Several universities within our network engage in cross-continental activities that extend to 3 or more continents. We see tangible new impulses that generate from such uncommon networks. We wish to find platforms that further extend these networks.

The international network each student personally develops during various study programs gives access to future leaders in many different corners of the world. At present, as newly graduated employees, most communications take place bilaterally. We are searching for possibilities to create forums to share their experiences with a broader audience. Their involvement in forming new graduates is also a valuable activity.

Managing around 100 partners optimally is a massive task for a small group. Nevertheless, we see many possibilities and benefits of sharing knowledge, results and lessons learned within the network with a broader audience. Each partner has their network of sister universities, collaborating enterprises and public authorities. We are working on finding optimal concepts to expand the values and results of the Water Harmony network beyond current partners without expanding the number of partners.


KEY STATISTICS

12

Years of collaboration

53

Countries

89

Universities

24

Enterprises/authorities

>500

MSc & PhD students trained

>100

Faculty trained

>17 mill Euro

Project portfolio initiated and led

12

Projects with > 10 universities

12

International summer schools

7

International conferences

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