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Phase 2

General information

The second phase of the Water and Development Partnership Programme (DUPC2 2016-2024) is a €40,1 million partnership programme of the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, in collaboration with the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. DUPC2 responds to needs of low- and middle-income countries to strengthen their water and development sectors in contributing to sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, and healthy ecosystems. These needs are addressed through collaborative partnership activities in the areas of education, research, and institutional strengthening.

This phase started in 2016 and will end 31 December 2024

About the programme

The focus regions and countries of DUPC2 are: the Middle East, Nile Basin countries, North Africa, the Sahel, Mozambique, Colombia, the Asian deltas, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Projects within these regions and countries contribute to one or multiple focus themes:

  • Water and Food: efficient water management, particularly in the agricultural sector 
  • Rivers and Deltas: improved catchment area management and safe deltas 
  • Water Supply and Sanitation: access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation
  • Water Diplomacy: improved regional security and stability

Cross-cutting agenda items are Online Education; Digital Innovations; Climate Change; Gender and Inclusiveness; Capturing and Communicating Impacts; and Collaborating and Learning. 

All of the above categories mentioned have a collection page on our webpage. This second phase of the programme, implemented between 2016 and 2024, supports a total of roughly 115 projects, with around 220 partners.

DUPC2 Figures
DUPC2 Figures

Programme Overview

By the end of 2023, DUPC2 has supported 115 projects on education, research, knowledge sharing and capacity strengthening in 38 low- and middle-income countries. As the programme is entering its final stage (end date December 2024), most project activities have already ended or are finalising (Figure 1). 11 projects are on-going in 2024.

The distribution of the projects over the regions is shown in Figure 2, and the budget along with the expenditure per region is seen in Figure 3. Most projects target ‘multiple regions’, which means they cannot be directly linked to a specific region, but often do have a main focus on the Middle East, Nile basin countries and North Africa and the Sahel. Examples of such activities include online course development as part of the EduHUB project (no. 109066), and the BEWOP project (no. 109145). Apart from that region, most projects are in the Middle East and Nile basin countries, reflecting the focus of the programme. Recently, more projects have been initiated in North Africa and the Sahel. 

All projects contribute to one or more of the DUPC2 focus themes (Figure 4). Most projects address multiple themes, so for the purpose of this report it is assumed that in those cases, the different themes are addressed equally. The figure shows that budget is quite evenly divided over the themes, with the highest budget allocation to the Water and food theme

For more information about the programme and its projects, we kindly refer you to our annual report(s).

 

Partnerships and Impact

Working with partners is a key approach for IHE Delft, as well as DUPC to help solve water and development challenges. The programme encourages partnerships to be long-term engagements in which different kinds of organizations collaborate on addressing relevant water challenges on a basis of complementary, mutual respect, equality and inclusion of diverse actors. We believe that this approach better facilitates positive societal impact of our supported activities. The DUPC2 activities so far, are developed and implemented with 216 partners of which 147 are partners from the 34 low- and middle-income countries, mainly from the DUPC2 focus regions. With about 20% of all partners from low- and middle-income countries, IHE Delft already collaborates over a longer time period, for instance through joint educational programmes. 

We have stimulated a more prominent role for Global South partners as well as women in projects. As a result, about one quarter of the projects is led by focus region partners, and over 40% of the projects are led by women. Additionally, through Call criteria we have further diversified partnerships. This focus has resulted in an increased involvement of civil society, government and private sector (see Figure to the right). Although the majority of the DUPC2 partners are from our focus countries, we also do collaborate in projects with western and Dutch partners, they contribute with specific expertise, and also to build synergies between our activities in the focus regions.

 

DUPC2 Partners

Progress on Programme Objectives

All supported activities contribute in multiple ways to the objectives of the programme and its five components: education and training, research and innovation, knowledge sharing and networks, capacity strengthening and Communities of Practice and management and learning. Below we present selected indicators to illustrate the 2016 – 2023 progress for each of the programme components.

  • Education and Training

    Curriculum

    • 155 new courses developed at partner institutes and IHE (see Courses)
    • 40 Open Course Ware; 250,000 unique visitors OCW platform (see Courses)
    • 4 water degree education programmes of strategic partners reviewed and advised

    Professionals trained

    • 2,500 professionals trained in water management
    • 500 professionals trained in transboundary water management
    • 700 people trained in WASH institutions

  • Research and Innovation

    Research teams

    • 500 team members (60% from the Global South, 42% female)

    Outputs

    • 1,602 outputs produced for diverse audiences (see Figure 9)
    • 56% lead authors of the outputs from Global South
    • 10 social and technical innovations (e.g. WaterPip (108472), Mobile Microwave (106538), “BracTo” Tool Box, SCARCE project (106537)
    • 54 Water Accounting river basin studies in 19 countries in Global South

    Impact stories

    • 44 impact stories

  • Knowledge sharing and Networks

    Knowledge sharing 

    • 737 outreach products to different, of which 123 advocacy material and policy briefs (see Figure 9)
    • 89 project webinars 

    FAO database (WaterPip, 108472)

    • 25 institutions that use the FAO database to measure water productivity 
    • 35 projects that use the FAO database to monitor water productivity 
    • 11 'ready-to-use' applications for farmers and policy officers are developed and distributed

    WASH

    • 172 WASH organizations strengthened
    • 90 Water Operator Partnership knowledge products produced (BEWOP)
    • 40,000 Internet views of BEWOP publications 

    Networks

    • 10 River Basin Organizations supported 
    • 10 active networks / Communities of Practice e.g. NBCBN, WaterNet, SIDS, Water Youth Network, BEWOP, SIDS, MENA, CONNECT, IHE alumni (FUTURE)

  • Capacity strenghtening and Communities of Practice

    • 81 SIDS, MENA, Sahel MSc fellows graduated, and member of Community of Practice
    • 10 events, workshops, webinars
    • Alumni network and online communities of practice (see Knowledge Sharing and Networks above)

For more in-depth information about the programme, we kindly refer you to our collections, or to our annual reports. For remaining questions, feel free to reach out to the programme team.