Capacity building of institutions and of individuals is a key mechanism to improve public governance. In the water sector, which encompasses water management and water services such as water supply, sanitation and irrigated agriculture, capacity building is seen as the solution to the main weaknesses in the sector: weak institutional frameworks, poorly targeted organizations with inappropriate skills mixes, and, in general, no orientation to sustainable 'demand driven' management.


This volume contains the papers and the outcome of workshops of the second UNDP Water Sector Capacity Building Symposium (Delft, The Netherlands, 1996). Whereas the First Symposium focused on the nature and broad strategic outlines of the capacity building concept, this book reviews the first field experiences and discusses the tools and approaches. The contributions make a specific attempt to discuss capacity building as a means to support and guide sector and policy reform.