The M.Sc. IWRM

The course I'm studying here in Amman is entitled "Master of Science in Integrated Water Resource Management", or short: IWRM. It's the new thing in Water Management these days, and if you want money from international donors for any water-related project, it better have these four magic words written all over it. Unfortunately, though, nobody really knows what they actually mean. Although a lot of the concepts that today fall under the wider theme of IWRM have been stipulated and even partially applied since the 60s and 70s, only in the last 5-10 years has it really gained attention and reached a great level of popularity. This popularity, however, is not only to its advantage – the need for IWRM to be part of any funding proposal for water projects means that a lot of projects that have nothing to do with IWRM at all, are suddenly sailing under its flag – with a bag of gold onboard. And this, of course, waters down its original meaning and damages its reputation. So in some cases it is not taken quite as serious as maybe it should be. This becomes particularly apparent in conversations with people working in the development sector: when I roll out the title of my Master programme together with other hip and hype words in development such as ‘sustainable’, ‘participatory’, ‘community-based’ or even ‘holistic’ to explain what IWRM means – I often get that certain smile under raised eyebrows in return, which is pretending to mean “how very impressive”, but actually means “yeah, yeah, yeah, ok, just cut the crap now!”.

The main reason behind this ambiguity about the term “Integrated Water Resource Management”, is maybe that there has been no international agreement on it, nor has it been part of any major environmental treaty or regime and is hence singularly lacking a clear definition.
Still, one could argue that this is not necessary or even not possible: any decision made on water management depends on such a multitude of different factors and actors that it would be impossible to find ONE definition or guideline on how to manage water resources in an integrated and sustainable manner, while ensuring social and economic development. In the end, everybody has an idea of what IWRM means... it is kind of an ideal case, in which everybody affected by or involved in the existence, functioning and use of a given water resource, is basically happy, including, or especially: the environment, the resource itself and its current AND future users.

Well, so that's the topic.

The course title then continues: “for German and Arab young professionals”. In practical terms this means that a group of 15 students, of which 6 are from Germany, 3 from Jordan, 2 from the Yemen, 2 from Syria, 1 from Iraq and 1 from Egypt, spend five days a week, 9-4 in a shabby, darkened room with bulky and noisy wheely-chairs in Jordan University's Water Centre, their eyes fixed on a lecturer or on slides thrown onto the wall by the ‘data-show’, learning about the different aspects and elements of water: water supply, water demand, water use, water re-use, water treatment, water management, water allocation, water pricing, salinisation, desalination, water harvesting, water conveyance, water storage, water economics, groundwater, grey water and so on.
The 15 of us studying in this post-graduate programme aren't only all from different countries; we're also from very different and varying backgrounds – in fact, the differences could hardly be much greater: The age range is from 24 (ME!) to 45; the marital status varies from single-and-never-kissed-a-girl to married-with-two-children; some have worked in the water sector on ministry level for years, while others haven't had much to do with water at all (me again!); some are easy-to-deal-with, engaged and enthusiastic, others non-cooperative, stubborn and minimum-effort; one colleague lived through three Iraq wars, while others have enjoyed the safety and comfort of a central European upbringing; another colleague writes “in the name of Allah” at the top of each page when he’s eagerly taking notes of a lecture, while another one doesn’t take any notes at all, but turns to me saying “My God, this is boring!”; two of us have only just graduated from their first degree last year, others more than 15 years ago; last but not least: some even hope to become the future Minister of Water in their respective home country, while others haven't got a clue what to do after this Master programme or are planning to quit water altogether.

You can imagine the challenges on the one hand and the opportunities on the other hand arising from this variety. In the end, there are at least two things that unite us: a strong interest and concern for the fragile and endangered resource water and a fascination and love for the Arab world.