The National Water Resources Management Project (NWRM) funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Ministry of Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan jointly held a 5-day long online Training of trainers (TOT) course, designed to promote the introduction of water-saving irrigation technologies.

Training is the process of developing the knowledge and skills needed to fill the gap between what people want to do and what they can do. Therefore, on the first day of the training program, a baseline test on the basic knowledge of the participants was conducted. The test has provided important data that at the end of the course allowed to  assess how the presented materials were acquired. The first day was closed with detailed discussions of the current situation with the introduction of water-saving irrigation technologies in Uzbekistan and the issues of state incentives.

The second day of the seminar was devoted to the whole range of drip irrigation system issues including their description, components, specifics and types of application. The design and construction, testing and commissioning of drip irrigation systems were the topics of the third and the fourth days of the training. The audience was highly impressed by the presentation provided by the NETAFIM Company, the project partner. The Q&A session was also very lively.

The closing day of the seminar was the most intensive part of the program. The use of drip irrigation systems and agro-techniques were discussed, presentations on the practical tasks performed by the trainees were considered, the procedure for conducting a survey to learn the opinion of the trainees on the training course was explained and a test was conducted to assess the final knowledge of the trainees.