Transboundary Water Management

The main objectives of the programme in Transboundary Water Management (TWM) were to identify the advantages of collaborative transboundary water management strategies and improve the participants' abilities to apply these strategies in their respective organisations.

The programme was running between the years 2006 and 2010 with participants from Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Colombia, DPR Korea, Egypt, India, Jordan, Kenya, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zambia.

These programmes were designed for management staff from governmental, non-governmental and private sector organisations involved in water resources development management. The programme lasted for approximately 9 months where the participants met twice; first two weeks in South Africa/Mozambique and then one week in Sweden. Key features of the programme were the start-up workshops and the Individual Projects (IPs).

The start-up workshop was the beginning of the programme. It was the sole responsibility of the participant to plan and realize the workshop and coordinate with the Programme Facilitation Team member participating in the workshop. Each participant had to carry out an IP of a transboundary water management case within his/her country or region, in which the participant was directly engaged through his/her professional duties. The IP provided the basis for linking lectures, excursions and other experiences into a format that made the programme useful for their home organisations.

Water is essential to all kinds of human development and livelihood support systems. Transcending most political and administrative boundaries, the available freshwater and the benefits it generates must be shared among individuals, economic sectors and sovereign nations.

The TWM training programme aimed at contributing to a better situation, by supporting capacity building for Transboundary Water Resources Management. During this programme we strived to achieve an active and strong link to the participants’ professional areas but also to strengthen the exchange between participants from different professional and geographical backgrounds.

The programme supported and strenghtened emerging and ongoing transboundary water-related management and negotiation processes in which the participants played an active role. Transboundary water resource management often stimulate co-operation rather than conflict. So a dialogue on water and its role in development provides a means for building trust among the parties in a region.