On Wednesday 14 June, the CSC Alumni Team were joined by Commonwealth Alumnus Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava for the Development in Action webinar series. Dr Bhargava shared a presentation on ‘The pedagogy of water: designing education to support a better understanding of climate induced water crises in India’.
This webinar addressed the CSC development theme of Strengthening resilience and response to crises.
The CSC’s Development in Action webinar series aims to highlight the work and research of Commonwealth Alumni across a range of development impact areas.
About the speaker
Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava is the National President of the Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WICCI) – Water Resource Council. She is a transdisciplinary learner of the built environment, which includes architecture, urban design, planning, management, and governance of large-scale developments.
Dr Bhargava is passionate about entrepreneurship, research, education, public speaking, and mentoring on topics around sustainability and liveability. She leads several initiatives to educate the public on water crises including virtual series like Wednesdays for Water and Friday Waters.
She completed a Master’s at CEPT University in Ahmedabad and a PhD at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. She has received global scholarships and fellowships including Commonwealth Scholarship and Fulbright-Nehru.
Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava is a 2005 Commonwealth Shared Scholar from India. She completed an MPhil in Planning, Growth and Regeneration at the University of Cambridge.
Reimagining how we think and talk about water crises
In this webinar, Dr Bhargava discussed the discourse around climate-induced water crises and how it affects vulnerable groups in society, especially in the Indian context. Dr Bhargava stressed that situating water crises within a broader narrative of climate change was vital but equally that it was important to interrogate the specific challenges that come with water crises such as gender rights, conflict of ownership of resources, sanitation, and epidemics.
She discussed the importance of changing perceptions of climate change in order to close the gap in education on water. She also shared information on her outreach work which aims to educate the public about water crises through virtual information sessions, community field trips, and publications.
This webinar presentation was followed by an interactive Q&A session with Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni. A recording of this webinar is available to view on the CSC’s YouTube channel where you can also watch previous events in the series.
Join future Development in Action webinars
The CSC’s Development in Action webinars take place each month and are open to all Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni.
To find out about upcoming webinars, please visit the CSC’s events webpage.
