World Water Forum: Coalition for capacity development in water

In water development, we often like to boast about infrastructure projects – who doesn’t like the promise inherent in new pipes, boreholes, toilets, taps, sewers and more? But too often, this infrastructure crumbles prematurely because it is not maintained. That’s why I appreciated hearing lots of talk about capacity development at the Forum. More and more, there is a recognition that trained people are needed to manage, operate and maintain equipment. That’s what’s needed to make the promise of new equipment translate into sustainable development.  

At the Forum, IHE Delft joined a group of businesses, utilities, authorities, governments, organizations, civil society groups and others to launch the Bali Coalition to Strengthen Training in the Water Sector. Coalition members recognized that a lack of capacity leads to the deterioration of infrastructure and waste of investment, and committed themselves to promote and implement capacity development in the water sector. As coalition members, we must now ensure these commitments result in tangible actions that bring progress – it can’t be another initiative that brings no real change. At IHE Delft, we will contribute for example through our involvement in the Global Water Education Network (GWEN).

As I noted in my speech to the Ministerial Session: developing capacity, which requires sustained efforts over a longer period of time, often falls to the wayside in the search for quick or immediate return-on-investment. By including capacity development, at individual and institutional levels, water investments become truly sustainable.

Capacity development needs financing: training people costs money. As the Bali Coalition notes, any water investment must include resources for training. How to finance such investments was a key topic at the Forum: it is clear that sustainable financing mechanisms are needed to bring faster progress. With 2.2 billion people lacking access to safely managed water services, and 3.5 billion remaining without access to safe toilets, we need to speed up work. IHE Delft’s planned Centre of Practice on Water and Finance will aim to achieve precisely this by developing and disseminating an understanding of public and private financing, and facilitating combinations of different kinds of financing.

Progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 6, on universal access to safe water and sanitation, is particularly lagging in terms of sanitation. Just 57 % of the world’s population have access to safe toilets. This figure hides a reality that is even harsher: safely managed sanitation services are available to only 24% of those who live in Sub-Saharan Africa. We need to do better. Any resources that can be invested sustainably in sanitation will improve lives and bring progress toward not only SDG6, but also most of the other SDGs.

All water conferences have much in common: sessions in which speakers call for action and make commitments. Side events that launch collaborative efforts. Lots of key informal chats over coffee. I have taken part in many conferences over the years, and though I do think they bring progress, I am frustrated with the pace, which is far too slow. In Bali, I was struck by the large share of young participants. Their eagerness and interest inspired not only me, but also many others.

One of the young participants, 21-year-old Thara Bening Sandrina, became an activist already as a young teenager, out of concern about the increasing plastic pollution in her local river on East Java.  She established the River Warriors, a teenage group that not only cleans up the river, but also lobbies communities to reduce the use of plastic and governments to provide proper trash bins and waste management.

“It became increasingly clear how essential the river was and how much the pollution hindered its function. That’s why my sister and I have fully dedicated ourselves to protecting the river,” she said at the workshop ‘Empowering youth through lobbying’, organized by IHE Delft and partners.  

Hearing youth like Thara, who represented the Indonesian ecological observation and wetland conservation organization Ecoton, speak about their action both at a hands-on level and at a governmental level gave me hope that faster progress is possible

Youth are not only the future, but also the present, and I hope their energy and lack of patience will help us all work faster and better.