Date: 21-23 October, 2025, Venue: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
The IWRM workshop on the joint development of a handbook on integrated water resource management and a certification course for prospective water resource managers took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 21–23 October 2025. It was implemented by the Department of Geoecology and the Department of Geography Education at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and organized by GIZ. The team from MLU Halle-Wittenberg included Prof. Dr. Christopher Conrad, Prof. Dr. Anne-Kathrin Lindau, Dr. Jolina Ulbricht and Matthias Völkel.
The workshop was conducted in cooperation with representatives from Central Asian partner universities from the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. During three days of intensive collaboration, the work already accomplished was reviewed, the development of the certification course was refined, and individual chapters of the textbook, written by the respective partners, were presented for discussion in the workshop.
A particular focus of the event was on the presentation and application of the latest subject-specific teaching and learning methods, which were introduced by Prof. Lindau and Dr. Ulbricht from the Department of Geography Education. In this context, Mr. Alisher Saidmukhtorov, Director of the Research Institute for Political Processes, Diplomacy, and Globalization in Tajikistan, presented an application scenario for Kahoot!, an interactive learning platform that transforms quizzes and surveys into exciting, playful experiences for schools, adult education, and corporate training.
The methods presented were very well received by all partners and will form the basis of the certification course.
All partners reiterated the importance of raising awareness of water availability and distribution problems caused by changing climatic conditions and the need to intensify and professionalize transboundary water resource management by profound subject-specific education. They agreed to further deepen and intensify their cooperation on this matter.