IRC signs agreement with India’s premier civil services training and research centre

Published on: 04/01/2013

On 18 December 2012 the two institutes signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi in the presence of the Secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Mr. Pankaj Jain IAS.

NIAR is the research wing of India’s premier training centre for civil servants, the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) based in Mussoorie. It manages various centres of excellence within LBSNAA and is also a Government of India (GoI) recognised key resource centre for rural drinking water.

The MoU was signed by NIAR Director General Mr. Kush Verma IAS, and IRC Manager, South Asia & Latin America Team, Joep Verhagen on behalf of the IRC Director Nico Terra. Also present at the function were T.M. Vijay Bhaskar IAS, Joint Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Dr Kurian Baby IAS, India Country Director and Senior Programme Officer – South Asia, IRC and Dr. B.S. Bisht, Associate Professor & Nodal Officer, National Key Resource Centre (Water & sanitation), NIAR-LBSNAA, Mussoorie.

The MoU envisages collaboration on:

1. training and capacity building in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector
2. networking with other national / state training institutes
3. integrating WASH training programmes with LBSNAA academic programs
4. joint action research programmes

Speaking on the occasion, Pankaj Jain IAS, Secretary, GoI expressed the hope that the MoU would lead to constructive cooperation between the two centres of excellence, in designing curricula, improving contents, building capacities and supporting action research leading to sustainable WASH service delivery in the country.

For more information contact: Dr. V. Kurian Baby, India Country Director and Senior Programme Officer, South Asia, IRC, e-mail: kurian@irc.nl