Award for best mascot and slogan

We are pleased to announce the best mascot and slogan for the project:

Mascot:           Person with divine rod (dowser)

Slogan:             ‘Water is divine’

Water dowsing is to search for water underground with the help of simple instruments, like Y-shaped twigs or L-shaped metal rods. It is still being practiced in the search for good sites to locate new wells (see http://waltonfeed.com/old/dowse.html).

Dowsing also has a more spiritual meaning in the sense of searching for something hidden and unknown. In this connotation, dowsing can also be applied to the objective of this project, namely to investigate the issues underlying the lack of appropriate groundwater management and to find innovative solutions for better governance.

The winner of the award for best mascot and slogan goes to Frank van Steenbergen who is himself deeply involved in developing capacity on groundwater and water management through his association with Meta Meta.

The award will be handed over to Frank on the occasion of the opening session of the last week of the Training and Research Program on Nov.6, 2006 at IIT, Roorkee, Uttar Pradesh, India. At this occasion we will also ask course participants to contest on designing the best logo for the project, involving the mascot and the slogan.