Second CSAWM Batch: BWDB Officials Trained on IWRM, GIS/IoT and Climate-Resilient Irrigation

Management and Training International (MTI) Ltd. conducted the second running of the three-day course on Climate-Smart Agriculture and Water Management (CSAWM) — IWRM, GIS/IoT applications, climate-resilient irrigation and sustainable agriculture practices from 4 to 6 October 2026 at the Central ICT Lab, Level-11, Pani Bhaban, BWDB, Dhaka. Twenty-five officials of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), under the Ministry of Water Resources, took part — the seventh batch under Package 22 of the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Water Management Project (CSAWM Project), BWDB Part.

The Course That Names the Project, Run Again

Of all the courses in the programme, this is the one that carries the project’s own name, and it is built on the same three-scale logic as the July batch: the basin on Day 1 (how water is shared, balanced and protected across a catchment), the data on Day 2 (how it is mapped, sensed and monitored), and the field on Day 3 (how it reaches a crop efficiently under a changing climate).

Two things changed for the second running. The Project Director took the opening IWRM session himself, setting out the principles and basin-planning framework before the Surface Water Hydrology Circle’s Superintending Engineer took the rest of Day 1. And the closing review passed to the Board’s Chief Water Management (PRL), who ran it as team presentations on real basins — the Gumti among them.

Where the Two Halves of the Project Meet

The CSAWM Project has a BWDB Part and a Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Part, and this course is where they teach together. Days 1 and 2 were taught by BWDB; Day 3 was taught by the DAE side — its Agricultural Engineer on efficient irrigation, scheduling, salinity and conjunctive use, and its Project Director on sustainable agriculture practices. Water engineers who build the canal heard, from the agency that works with the farmer at its tail end, what happens to the water after it leaves the structure.

Course Leadership

Twelve Blocks, Three Scales

Day-by-Day Course Schedule

Participants reported to the Central ICT Lab at 08:30 on the first morning and at 09:00 on the following two days. Each day ran four sessions and closed at 16:00.

Training Methodology

Each day used the method its subject demanded: case-based learning in the Bangladesh context and group problem-solving for IWRM; hands-on technical sessions at the lab’s workstations for GIS and IoT; and worked examples — crop coefficients, effective rainfall, drainage — for irrigation. Participants were seated by team from the first morning, and the course closed with the teams presenting.

Team Presentations on Real Basins

The closing review was run as team presentations. One team presented IWRM core principles and pillars for the Gumti River basin — freshwater as a finite and vulnerable resource, participatory management, the central role of women and the economic value of water — and others presented their own syntheses of the GIS and irrigation days.

Who Was in the Room

The second CSAWM cohort was the broadest yet in range of disciplines. Alongside six Executive Engineers, a Sub-Divisional Engineer and five Assistant Engineers sat three Environment & Forest specialists (two Assistant Chiefs and a Research Officer), a Deputy Chief (Sociology), an Extension Officer from Chuadanga, a System Analyst, a Deputy Director and two Assistant Directors from administration, and four finance staff. Participants came from twenty-three offices; four travelled in from Pabna, Rajshahi, Chuadanga and Chattogram.

Full Participant Roster

Closing Ceremony & Certification

The Project Director closed the course on the afternoon of 6 October 2026. After the post-evaluation and course evaluation, each participant was presented with a certificate at the dais.

The Course in Pictures

Sixteen further photographs from the three days at the Central ICT Lab, Pani Bhaban.

Why This Matters

Climate-smart agriculture in Bangladesh fails at the joins: between a basin plan and the canal that serves a single field, between the agency that delivers water and the agency that advises the farmer, between data that exists and decisions that use it. This course is designed around those joins, which is why it moves from basin to data to field and why its third day is taught by the Department of Agricultural Extension.

Running it a second time, for a cohort that brought environment and forest specialists, extension staff and finance officers into the room with BWDB’s engineers, widens the circle of officials who can think across those joins — the capacity the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Water Management Project ultimately depends on.

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