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Capacity Development

IHE Delft offers education, research and institutional strengthening to support water sector professionals and institutions as they develop capacity to address the world’s growing water challenges.

Why capacity development is important in the water sector

A lack of proper infrastructure or a lack of capable water professionals are not the only challenges to effective water management. Instead, the main culprit is often a lack of strong institutions and good governance, which, combined with too little interaction among institutions accountable for water management, leads to a weak water sector. This challenge is compounded by too few incentives for professionals to engage with and remain in the water sector. Capacity development, recognized as a major enabler to ensure water security in the world and to achieve universal access to water and sanitation as called for in Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), is needed for progress.

The 2021 UN-Water Summary Progress Update  emphasises the urgent need to increase national capacity: “Gaps in institutional and human capacity, especially at the level of local governments and water and sanitation providers, slows implementation of SDG6 along with outdated infrastructure and governance models,” the report states.

Eddy Moors
The main barrier to progress at this point is not a lack of technology: what is really holding us back is a lack of capacity at all levels - the individual, organizational and institutional.
Eddy Moors, Rector of IHE Delft

Capacity development (CD) is the process of enabling organizations and communities to develop and strengthen the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources they need to survive, adapt, and thrive in a fast-changing world. It involves transformations that are sustained over time and include not just skills, knowledge and tasks, but also changing mindsets and attitudes.

Capacity development, which used to be considered synonymous with training and education, now is understood more broadly and also encompasses many other ways to develop capacity.

7th International Symposium on Knowledge and Capacity for the Water Sector: Empowering a New Generation

Date: 2-4 July 2025 Location: IHE Delft and online

Highlighted research

Capacity and its system include “several nested and interrelated levels.” The system comprises not only individuals’ competencies – including their motivations and attitudes, but also organization’s capabilities and relations and interactions with other actors. In addition, the concept includes the culture and knowledge base of civil society as well as characteristics of the environment – is it enabling or disenabling?

Nested levels within the capacity system
Most learning is informal, taking place in applied settings and ‘on-the-job’. The capacity system therefore comprises several nested and interrelated levels, consisting of the competencies (incl. motivations and attitudes) of individuals, the capabilities of organisations and their relations and interactions with other actors/organisations, the characteristics and composition of the (dis)enabling environment and the culture and knowledge base of civil society.Copyright: Wehn et al. (2015), based on Lusthaus (1995), UNDP (1997), Keijzer (2011), Vallejo & Wehn (2015)

International symposium on knowledge and capacity for the water sector

IHE Delft, together with partners and stakeholders, has analyzed water sector capacity development and raised awareness on progress by critically assessing results and lessons from capacity development programmes around the world. The six Capacity Development Symposia held at IHE Delft from 2000 to 2020 form milestones in this process.

During the sixth symposium, held online in May 2020, representatives from academia, governments, funders, utilities and civil society from more than 90 countries developed the '2020 Delft Agenda for Action' which highlights key challenges to capacity development in the water sector. The document emphasizes the need for system and long-term perspectives, inclusiveness and blended approaches, as well as more investment.

Special issue on water policy

From knowledge and capacity development to an implementation science: policy concepts and operational approaches, written by Professor Guy Alaerts and Professor Chris Zevenbergen.

Special issue: Water policy

Capacity development arenas

The Symposium also resulted in an analysis that showcases capacity development beyond traditional learning methods. This analysis groups capacity development into six partially overlapping ‘arenas’ that are characterized by different purposes, contexts, processes and instruments.

  • Arena 1: Development of skills for well-defined executive tasks

    This concerns short-term development of interpersonal skills and competencies needed to carry out specific tasks of generally technical nature. This can include, for example, pipe-laying, accounting and mathematical modelling. The activities have well-defined objectives, can be learned through established training approaches (such as classroom training, workshops and coaching) and yield easily measurable outcomes with a clear causal training-outcome relation. 

  • Arena 2: Development of complex behavioral skills

    This encompasses the development of more complex competencies, often of managerial or behavioral nature. These are suited professionals in managerial or other leading positions, but also other groups that need to be coached to identify and address local challenges. This arena often requires a broader and more specialist toolset of teaching, experiential learning and a coaching frame. Activities in this arena draw on approaches and instruments of Arena 1 but also builds on networks, communities-of-practice and peer-learning and peer-assessments.

  • Arena 3: Education

    This concerns knowledge-generation. This often entails helping young generations develop the basic knowledge, interpersonal skills, and attitudes, as well as capability for continuous further learning, they need for their future. Knowledge of this kind can be generated through instrument ranging from classroom teaching to experiential learning, coaching, peer-learning, and mid-career education.

  • Arena 4: Research and development as well as innovation

    This arena focuses on the discovery and generation of knowledge, such as scientific research, research and development, innovation and citizen science. The processes involved are often partially integrated with those in the other arenas.

  • Arena 5: ICT for decision-making

    This concerns the development and use of hard- and software that enables communication, information-sharing, training, simulations and decision-making. The wide dissemination smart phones and internet-based tools contribute to faster and wider knowledge dissemination.

  • Arena 6: Policy and administrative reform

    This supports change, reform programmes or transitions in organizations, policies or institutions such as government ministries, (water) agencies and political entities. Capacity development in this arena intervenes in organizations’ management purpose, style and internal workings, and requires political commitment to adopt and sustain the changes that re-arrange power. Activities typically include approaches and instruments of Arenas 1 and 2 aimed at specific groups of stakeholders and decision-makers, in addition to more process-oriented tools such as Results Frameworks to monitor and evaluate interim achievements, identify and address constraints, reveal unanticipated changes in the environment or internal objectives, and adapt to these new circumstances.

The Capacity Development Initiative

The UN SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework is a unifying initiative that aims to speed up progress by improving support to countries. The framework, part of the UN Secretary-General’s Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs by 2030, includes five accelerators: Capacity Development, Data and Information, Governance, Financing and Innovation.  Capacity development is a key component in all accelerators - as stakeholders need capacity to manage data, to innovate, to govern well and to manage funds effectively.

In 2022, UN-Water launched the Capacity Development Initiative (CDI) as an inter-agency coordination platform on freshwater, sanitation and hygiene-related capacity development work. The Initiative, coordinated by UNESCO and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, enables the UN system and its multi-stakeholder partners to align efforts and ‘deliver as one’ to support countries that seek to develop their water and sanitation capacity. IHE Delft is a key supporter of the Initiative and works with UNESCO, and in particular the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) to develop the Initiative. Countries that request assistance from the UN system in developing their capacity in water and sanitation will be offered tailored support, including capacity assessments and targeted interventions, through the CDI.

Examples of effective capacity development interventions

IHE Delft has solid experience in delivering tailored and demand-driven capacity development interventions. Among the Institute’s capacity development activities are:

Supporting sustainable water management in Iraq through capacity development and research

The Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, selected universities and research centers strengthened their capacity to contribute to a more integrated and sustainable water management in Iraq. Through co-designed and demand-driven training courses and research activities, participants advanced their scientific knowledge, research and problem-solving skills so that they can better address Iraq’s complex water challenges. Read more about our partnership with Iraqi universities and the recent visit of the Iraqi Water Resource Minister Al-Hamdani to IHE Delft in the related section below.

Partnerships for Capacity Development in the ACP Water & Sanitation Sector

Water utility companies in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as the African Water Utility Association (AfWA), engaged in multi-country exchanges that helped them improve national policies in water governance and management, revenue enhancement and pro-poor service provision. The project included organizational management systems development, staff training, establishment of knowledge management processes, benchmarking and impact assessments and the preparation of peer-reviewed training modules and materials.

An academy for professional training in water and sanitation in Mozambique

Mozambique’s Fundo de Investimento e Património do Abastecimento de Água (FIPAG) set up an Academy for Professional Development in Water and Sanitation. The academy has sound institutional management, academic excellence and good links with sector stakeholders and other relevant providers of education and training in water and sanitation in Mozambique and the region.

Tailor-made training on Integrated River Basin Planning and Management for government officials of Madhya Pradesh in India

Government officials in Madhya Pradesh, India, strengthened their knowledge and skills so that they could prepare River Basin Plans for the Chambal and Sindh River basins. They then developed the plans with the guidance of IHE Delft academic staff. Read more about opportunities for your organization in our Solutions for water sector organizations.

Supporting SIDS to strengthen capacity in the water sector to meet the SDGs under global change  

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) professionals and decision-makers strengthened their capacity to improve water management so that it better addresses future challenges, such the effects of climate change. Examples include education to SIDS water professionals in different modalities (MSc, short courses, online courses), field-based research on specific problems in the home country of participants, extracurricular workshops to strengthen the relations amongst SIDS water professionals and to stimulate the building of a Community of Practice; creation of a ‘forum’ for UNESCO member states and other public and private stakeholders.

Scenario Development in Integrated Water Resources Management coping with future challenges

Four Bangladeshi organizations – the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, the Bangladesh Agricultural University, the Water Resources Planning Organisation and the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services strengthened their capacity to engage in the policy and strategy debate in Bangladesh.

Strengthening Capacity in Water Sector with special focus on Ministry of Public Works in Indonesia

The Indonesian water sector, and in particular the Ministry of Public Works, developed an institutional strengthening plan following water sector reforms. Examples of activities include identification and analysis of required capacity of the different water sector institutes, defining future training needs and implementation of a capacity development plan. 

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