ICHARM held an online seminar with the World Bank

 ICHARM held an online seminar on January 30, 2024, to introduce its research and other activities to the staff of the World Bank. This event occurred following a proposal made by Mr. Saroj Kumar Jha, the World Bank's global director of water global practice, when he visited the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI) and had discussions on November 20 last year. There were 29 participants from the World Bank.
 PWRI President FUJITA Koichi and Mr. Jha opened the seminar by addressing opening remarks. Mr. Jha made the following comments:

• The world is looking for more innovations and scientific knowledge to manage water scarcity, water access, and water resource management.
• The World Bank's new vision is "to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet." To achieve this goal, The bank has stepped up the support for developing countries to build more water-related resilience.
• The World Bank has financed 5 billion dollars annually to various countries and expects the financing to water-related projects to increase significantly. However, the bank does not want to do more of the same; instead, it wants to introduce different innovations, technologies, and science to its projects.
• The World Bank considers this seminar a very important part of the partnership between the two parties and hopes the discussions will lead to even stronger ties to jointly address water-related challenges.

 Following the opening remarks, Deputy Director MORI Noriyuki provided an overview of ICHARM’s activities, and its researchers presented their research. The presentations included hydrological analysis, which can also contribute to optimizing dam operations, and technologies to support policymakers in making informed decisions.
The presentations were followed by discussions, in which the participants from both sides talked about the use of satellite data in Africa, where ground data is scarce, the optimization of coordinated operations involving multiple dams, the implementation of a capacity development program at African universities, and a new framework for procurement procedures between the World Bank and ICHARM.
Finally, Ms. Eileen Burke, the World Bank's global lead of water resources management, and Executive Director KOIKE Toshio wrapped up the seminar by addressing closing remarks. Ms. Burke made the following comments:

• Many of the issues that ICHARM is dealing with are issues that the World Bank has prioritized to help its client countries build decision support systems for better disaster risk management, water resources management from real-time reservoir operations, and other water-related challenges.
• So many questions asked through the chat function show that the World Bank staff is very excited about the work that ICHARM is doing. They know that it is applicable to so many of their client countries.
• The World Bank hopes that the seminar will facilitate more extensive collaboration between the two organizations.

 After the seminar, there were immediate requests for technical support for some World Bank projects, such as one in Nigeria. ICHARM is certain that the seminar was an excellent opportunity to promote its collaboration with the World Bank and also hopes that this will lead to a stronger partnership in the future.

Mr. Saroj Kumar Jha, the global director of water global practice, addressing opening remarks	Ms. Eileen Burke, the global lead of water resources management, addressing closing remarks
Participants in the online seminar
Executive Director Koike (left) and Senior Researcher Rasmy, answering questions from World Bank participants