Baku - On 30 August 2019, IOM convened a 3-day Training of Trainers on Kahriz Construction and Maintenance for 11 faculty members of Azerbaijan State Agricultural University (ASAU) and five IOM staff members in Ganja. The training was facilitated by two experts from International Centre on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (ICQHS), a UNCESCO category II centre. Following the training, ASAU faculty members and IOM will pay a study visit to Nakhchivan from 2 to 4 September to improve their knowledge and learn best practices of kahriz construction and maintenance.

Aiming to enable ASAU faculty members to develop a kahriz engineering course as part of the formal university curriculum, the capacity building activities were supported by KOICA as part of the Integrated Rural Development for IDP Communities in Azerbaijan through Revitalization of Kahriz Water Supply System. The project also focuses on improving the water supply in rural areas of Aghdam, Aghjabadi, Barda, Fuzuli, Ganja, Gazakh, Ghoranboy, Goygol, which are highly populated by internally displaced person through the renovation of over 40 kahrizes – a man-made, centuries-old, traditional water-supply system that does not need electricity or fossil fuel to function.