Category: News

New Blue Deal Young Experts visit the Netherlands

From 9 to 21 September, a group of Young Experts from Blue Deal partnerships visited the Netherlands. This was the kick-start of their 2 year programme as Yeppers, as they are called.

What is the Young Expert Programme?

The Young Expert Programme (YEP) offers young professionals the opportunity to join a training programme for 2 years, to learn in an international environment. For the Blue Deal, a tailor-made programme was created, co-financed by the NWB Fund. Young professionals from all 17 partnerships will work in the water authorities in their countries for the Blue Deal, while also following a programme for personal and professional development. They also receive coaching through this programme. This way, they can strengthen the water management in their countries.

2 people are looking at the tubes inside a wastewater treatment plant

Water management and personal development

These Yeppers started their 2-year programme in the Netherlands and will continue their programme while working for the water authority in their own country. In the next 2 years, they will join several (online) trainings dedicated to water management and their personal development.

Visit to the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the group attended various workshops on topics such as water governance and personal development. They also visited water authorities and went on field trips, such as to the Hondsbossche sea defence and to a water treatment plant.

Building networks and sharing knowledge

Setsabile Thwala from Eswatini is one of the people who were selected to join the YEP for the Blue Deal. “We come from different cultures and I believe we can learn a lot from each other. YEP is also about building networks, interactions and sharing knowledge. I think it’s something we will gain a lot from as the whole batch and I look forward to the experience.”

Tools for achieving goals

Aditya Darmawan is also one of the Yeppers, from Indonesia. One of the reasons to join the YEP is for the lessons on personal development: “This week, I already learned a lot about myself, about who I am and what my goals are professionally. In the workshops, they gave me the tools on how to achieve these goals.” He also speaks about the professional lessons he learned from his visit to the Netherlands. For example about the use of nature-based solutions.

Knowledge exchange

Maricielo Cruz Mogollon, one of the Yeppers from Peru, also speaks about what she learned from her visit to the Netherlands. “From my visit to some of the Dutch water authorities, I noticed how they all work together and support each other. I like how they use the nature and the environment. And also how they are open to learn from other countries and that they give me the opportunity to learn from them, to exchange knowledge.”

Blue Dragon Viet Nam supports Miss Business

What do water authorities have to do with beauty pageants? The Blue Deal partnership in Viet Nam, called Blue Dragon, was asked by one of the competitors to become her official sponsor.

Earlier this year, Mrs. Lily Vo, a Vietnamese-born entrepreneur now living in the Netherlands, approached the Blue Dragon programme for support in her participation in the Miss Business Global election event, held in Vietnam. Mrs. Vo, a 1979 boat refugee from Viet Nam, wanted to use her platform to promote social and community initiatives, choosing to highlight Dutch water management as part of her campaign.

Nature-based solutions as central message

In collaboration with a former board member of the Dutch water authority Hollands Noorderkwartier, Mrs. Vo contributed to a video showcasing the improvement of the Hondsbossche sea defence, as an example of nature-based solutions. This project exemplifies the innovative water management strategies the Netherlands is known for, and served as a central message during her participation in the Miss Business Global event.

Miss Business Ambassador Global and Miss Business Charity Global

At the final election in late July, Mrs. Vo was crowned Miss Business Ambassador Global 2024 and Miss Business Charity Global 2024, with Dutch Water Authorities proudly supporting her as one of her official sponsors.

This unique collaboration highlights the global relevance of Dutch expertise in water management and its capacity to inspire and support international communities in tackling water-related challenges.

Colombian water authorities visit the Netherlands

From 7 to 14 September, 13 board members of Colombian water authorities visited the Netherlands. They shared knowledge and experience with Dutch officials and specialists. The visit was part of the Blue Deal Colombia programme, InspirAgua.

The visit focused on cross-border collaboration, within their own organisations, with each other, and with regional partners. Key themes included engaging local communities in projects, nature conservation in Colombia, decision-making, wastewater treatment in the Netherlands, and water management in general. “The collaboration with Colombia is about exchanging knowledge and inspiring each other with good examples. This helps both sides to become better water managers, equipped for the changing and challenging tasks ahead,” says Ellen Bollen-Weide, programme manager for InspirAgua.

Mutual learning experience

The Colombian water authorities were immersed in Dutch water management for a week. At the same time, there was great attention to the Colombian approach, from which the Netherlands can learn a lot, especially in areas like climate change, drought, and heavy rainfall. Organisational topics were also covered, such as regional processes and their financing.

Cross-border collaboration helps both parties

According to Erik de Ridder, chair of the Dutch water authority De Dommel and responsible for InspirAgua, the visit provided valuable insights. “I firmly believe that by seeking collaboration beyond borders, you not only help others but also yourself. By seeing things through someone else’s eyes, you notice aspects that may seem obvious to us but aren’t.”

InspirAgua’s mission

The Blue Deal programme InspirAgua aims to deliver cleaner water to 15 million Colombians living and working along the Rio Magdalena by 2030. The programme works with national and regional partners to strengthen water management, making plans for rivers, developing a robust crisis organisation, utilising data, treating wastewater, and preventing pollution.

Blue Deal visit to Romania for Decision Support System

A Dutch Blue Deal delegation visited Romania from 8-11 July. The main goal was to discuss the content and scope of 2 workshops on behalf of the development a Decision Support System (DSS) in Romania. The workshops are foreseen in 2024 and 2025 to let Romanian experts learn the basics of developing a DSS.

DSS is a system that provides computer-driven technological solutions that help in making decisions to solve complex problems.

The Blue Deal work visit kicked off with a meeting at the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management (NIHWM) headquarters and was dedicated to the expectations of the current workshop. At first, Mr. De Ruyter of the Unie van Waterschappen gave an update about the Blue Deal partnership.
Next, the director of NIHWM, Mr. Matreata, gave a presentation about the NIHWM systems currently used for water management in Romania, and the linkage between meteorological administration information and hydrological forecast centre products.

DSS complementary to current systems

After an extended lunch, Mr. Matreta explained how a DSS can be complementary to the systems already in function. He also gave an insight in the current developments for the flash flood warning system. To give a slight impression of some possibilities of a DSS, Mr. van der Zwan from the Dutch water authority Rijnland explained how Rijnland has developed a DSS and how it is used on a daily basis.

With the insights of both the Romanian partners and the Dutch visitors, the discussions focused on the most sufficient pathway to implement a DSS in Romania and especially the critical points to take in consideration. To implement a DSS step-by-step, the first step is to develop a pre-operational DSS for a part of the Arges-Vedea river basin.

Visit to Arges-Vedea River Basin

The next day, the delegation was given a warm welcome by the Arges-Vedea River Basin Administration (RBA Arges-Vedea) in Pitesti. Mr. Cristian Barbu of the RBA Arges-Vedea provided insights in the water management in the watershed of Arges-Vedea.

After a perfect stay in the beautiful area of Voina in the northern part of the basin, the next day the discussion continued about how the water management in the Arges-Vedea basin is done. The participants concluded what the starting points were for a DSS in the Arges-Vedea basin, and how to develop, implement and maintain a DSS.

In the afternoon, the Rausor dam, one of the major dams in the Arges-Vedea basin, was visited. The participants were informed about dam management and technical issues.

How to develop basis knowledge on DSS

On the last day of the visit, the Dutch and Romanian participants had an online meeting with HKV and Deltares. They discussed the content of the workshops and the level of detail. The participants that will attend the workshops will develop basic skills about developing a DSS and gain basic knowledge of the structure of a DSS. This knowledge will be of utmost importance for upscaling a DSS other areas in Romania. Funding of the workshops comes from Blue Deal, NARW and NWB Fund.

After the meeting was finalised, the Dutch participants flew back home, looking back on a fruitful visit, and looking forward to the next steps in this process.

African Regional Meeting Blue Deal

From 8 to 11 July, a Regional Meeting took place in Mombasa, Kenya, gathering Blue Deal partnerships from 7 African countries. They discussed and developed their knowledge on sustainable financing of Integrated Water Resources Management.

blue-deal-kenia

The 4-days programme covered topics on Integral Water Resources Management (IWRM): water pricing, finances, and nature-based solutions, which were discussed during workshops, interactive sessions, plenary discussions, break-out groups and a field visit. Furthermore, the cooperation focused on bringing in external funding for water management.

Why an African Regional Meeting?

The African Regional Meeting was organised to further exchange knowledge after a few African Blue Deal partners discovered their mutual challenges in sustainable financing at the first Blue Deal Congress in June 2023 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The seeds were planted for the idea to further explore possibilities to share knowledge to improve their current strategies on sustainable financing of IWRM. As a result, the African Blue Deal Regional Meeting was drawn up. 

7 countries

Blue Deal partnerships from 7 countries all over Africa joined the meeting: Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Ethiopia Abbay and Ethiopia Awash, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa. Representatives of Nature for Water, the Global Water Partnership, and the international Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNGi) were present as partners during the event and shared their expertise.

Results

During the week, the 40 participants shared their best practices, creative ideas, common challenges and important lessons that they learned in establishing their own route towards sustainable financing. Some general conclusions and valuable insights are drawn up from the African Regional Meeting in Kenya, Mombasa, that covered the discussions on sustainable financing of IWRM. These are, among others:

  • Insight in and knowledge of water users, regulations, licensing and enforcement are essential to achieve sustainable financing of catchment management.
  • In-country funding and fundraising experts and expertise are needed in the Blue Deal partnerships to attain external funding.
  • We cannot realise water management on our own: we need the community, the partnerships and other institutions outside of the water sector to join forces.
  • The employees of the Dutch water authorities who attended gained knowledge about community-based working, involving the public in decision-making processes and they gained insights in working methods around water pricing.

Plans for improvements

The partnerships that were present are committed to improve their actions when it comes to:

  • stakeholder engagement (water users) in the pricing concept;
  • the exchange of data collection and working methods between countries, as it is essential to set tariffs and fees;
  • awareness creation and communication in a social inclusive way, around the advantages and the value of water;
  • lobbying within the countries: to become more visible at national and local government level to advocate for water within overlapping sectors/policies.

Milestone during WISA: establishment of Catchment Management Agencies

From June 12 to 14, the WISA conference took place in Durban, South Africa. This 3-day water management event for Southern Africa had the theme 'Turning the Tide'. A significant moment during the conference was the official launch of water authorities for South Africa, called Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs).

Over the past years, the Blue Deal shared its experiences related to water resource management tasks, which contributed to the establishment of CMAs in South Africa. Marion Wierda, CEO of Blue Deal South Africa, played a crucial role alongside the South African minister and other dignitaries during this inaugural event. We also spoke about the 750-year history of the water authorities in the Netherlands.

Previously, CMA responsibilities in South Africa were scattered across provinces and ministries. By creating these water authorities, we emphasise the importance of clean, sufficient and safe water. CMAs enable local, responsible management of water-related challenges. Together, we’re working towards resilient water management.

During the conference, the Blue Deal also achieved the following:

  • We conducted workshops on Blue Deal collaborations, including a workshop on ‘Women in Water’, in partnership with the World Water Academy.
  • We participated in the Wetskills competition. Our Blue Deal team presented a case study, and 4 students from around the world delivered their final presentations during WISA.
  • We managed a joint booth with the Department of Water and Sanitation, where we connected with stakeholders during breaks.
  • We held meetings and established agreements with the Dutch ambassador and the Minister of Water and Sanitation in South Africa (joint Steering Committee).
  • And much more!

Blue Deal Indonesia partners visit the Netherlands

From June 8 to June 16, 11 partners from the 4 local Blue Deal partners of Java, Indonesia, visited the Netherlands. In addition to knowledge sharing, we paid significant attention to strengthening the cooperation among the various Indonesian partners and the regions.

The Dutch team organised a comprehensive programme, featuring a mix of presentations and field visits to the Dutch water authorities of Schieland and Krimpenerwaard, Aa and Maas, Delfland, and Hollands Noorderkwartier.

Learning from each other on climate adaptation

On Monday, June 10, the delegation visited the research institute Deltares, to discuss the relationship between land subsidence and coastal erosion. Subsequently, the delegation went to The Green Village, a field lab centre for innovation, to observe innovative developments in climate adaptation. Climate change is a crucial theme where we can learn a lot from each other, as Indonesia has been dealing with heavy rainfall and significant flooding for much longer.

Water management in hill areas

Tuesday, June 11, focused on water management in hill areas. Topics included area processes (stakeholder involvement) for the spatial integration of water management. The delegation was surprised by the extensive water storage capacity and the absence of pumping stations.

Webinar: challenges and solutions from Indonesia

On Wednesday, June 12, a webinar was organised at the Dutch water authority Delfland. A total of 46 participants from various water authorities registered. During the webinar, our Indonesian partners provided insights into their challenges and search for solutions. The impact of waterlogging was made tangible through visual materials (photos and videos), emphasising the importance of our cooperation.

> Watch the complete webinar

Following the webinar, there was a visit to the water level management control room, and the afternoon focused on chemical and ecological water quality.

Nature-based solutions

In the north of the Netherlands, the last 2 days focused on coastal protection with a visit to the Hondsbossche Sea Defence, where coastal protection and nature development go hand in hand. Additionally, a water purification plant with a large helophyte filter, a nature-based solution, was visited on Texel. We concluded the week with a teambuilding activity at the beach of Camperduin.

Second work visit to Peru

From June 9 until June 22, a team from Blue Deal Peru went on the second work visit for 2024. The team spoke with local water authorities about many topics and organised workshops. We also saw the results of our scholarship programme.

The team started the journey with having a meeting with the board of directors of the National Water Authority (ANA) in Lima. We shared and coordinated themes of common interest, such as water and climate adaptation, and the strengthening of the water councils’ work.

Visit to Tumbes

We also visited our 2 Blue Deal regions: Tumbes and Piura to work with our regional partners. In Tumbes, we spoke with the Water Resources Council Tumbes and its technical team about the urgent needs of their employees, and about the key role of having better communication among themselves and a long-term strategy. We also visited the Governor of Tumbes for an update on our project in the region.

Sedimentation of the 2 main rivers in the mangrove areas was also a topic for discussion, sharing concerns and ideas to deal with this situation that threatens the mangrove environment. We met and talked with representatives from the local government, university and civil society organisations about water management, water quality and water harvesting contribution to reforestation processes. Our Young Expert shared her experiences at the World Water Forum in Indonesia and we ended our visit in Tumbes selecting the new Young Expert who will work with the local and Dutch team from 2024 to 2026.

Visit to Piura

In Piura, we also met with representatives of the Water Resources Council Chira-Piura and its technical team. Discussions included strengthening the water council and cooperation on flood control and urban drainage plans in Piura with the National Infrastructure Authority. Carlo van Oijen from Wageningen University and intern at the Dutch water authority Noorderzijlvest presented his research results on flood risk reduction in the Piura river basin. Another Dutch colleague, Jelle Agema, visited forest plantations as part of a feasibility study on water management and carbon credits funded by NWB Fund. He was impressed by the large forest and the communities’ conservation activities. As part of this study we held a workshop given by Farm Tree to the technical team and AIDER, the organisation that will carry out the study. Additionally, we discussed the objectives and target group for a training on operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment plants in Piura.

First results of scholarship programme

We are pleased to see the first results of our scholarship programme: support to university students to get their professional titles on water management. The first student got her professional title with a thesis on ecosystem services graded with outstanding marks. The second student is done with her field research on water saving on rice production. Her results are now being validated amongst the local organisations.

In Lima, we learned about the work of the ANA’s on transboundary water management with Ecuador, which also influences Piura and Tumbes. We also shared ideas with the colleagues on water management, water culture, participation and social inclusion. Overall, we look back at a very productive work visit and look forward to continuing the work with our partners.

4 Dutch water authorities work together in Tanzania

4 Dutch water authorities work together in a unique WaterWorX (WWX) project by integrating IWRM4WASH in the Mindu Dam Catchment Area, Morogoro, Tanzania.

Overview of the Mindu Dam in Tanzania

The 4 Dutch water authorities are World Waternet, Rivierenland, Brabantse Delta and Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier.

What is WaterWorX?

WaterWorX (WWX) is the international programme in which all Dutch drinking water companies have joined forces to contribute to a sustainable drinking water management worldwide. This programme is similar to the Blue Deal programme, in which all Dutch water authorities have combined their efforts to improve access to clean, sufficient and safe water worldwide.

Long-term resilience

By integrating IWRM4WASH in the Mindu Dam Catchment Area, Morogoro, Tanzania, the programme can create a climate-proof system that ensures sustainable water management, improved WASH services, and increased resilience to climate change. This holistic approach not only addresses immediate water and sanitation needs but also builds long-term resilience for the community and the environment.

Improving water supply throughout the year

The Mindu dam provides more than 75% of the water supply in Morogoro. Due to rapid population growth, deforestation in surrounding mountains, and climate change, less water and more sand from the rivers end up in the dam, which has reduced the capacity of the dam. By taking measures in the catchment area in combination with improving the dam, the water supply should improve throughout the year.

Blueprint for entire catchment area

With additional funding from the NWB Fund and the Climate Adaptation Fund, the WWX partnership in Morogoro is able to start a pilot with nature-based solutions at one of the tributary rivers of the Mindu Dam. The idea is that this pilot will be a blueprint for the other 4 rivers to the dam and eventually for the entire catchment area.

Valuable insights for other programmes

The pilot consists of the realisation of a Training and Demonstration Centre at Ngeregere River, where work in progress can be viewed, compared and discussed by stakeholders in the area. The aim is to ensure the effective implementation and success of nature-based solutions. Interventions are, among other things, agroforestry, a tree nursery, farmer training, beekeeping and check dams in the adjacent river. These interventions have been assessed by the joint development of a decision-support tool. The development of this Farmtree tool with key focus on Agroforestry interventions was supported by the NWB Fund. Both the tool and the proposed pilots may provide valuable insights for other Blue Deal and WaterWorX programsmes.

Demonstration, monitoring and working together

As an international Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) team, the team works on the basis of the principles of demonstrating, monitoring and working together:

  • Demonstration: seeing is believing. We are going to show in practice how different nature-based solutions can be applied. We show and experience for example the agroforestry systems we developed with the help of the FarmTree tool®.
  • Monitoring: to measure is to know. A participatory monitoring framework (PMF) is developed supported and managed by the local community to provide insights into the performance of the different interventions. In this way, the effects can be substantiated to help improve the practice.
  • Working together: we are working on a strong network of stakeholders. Our common dream is an ecosystem of passionate people that finds each other.

For more information on this project, please contact Janette Worm via janette.worm@waternet.nl.

Work visits on management, financing and stakeholder management in Eswatini

In May, there were no less than 3 work visits for Blue Deal Eswatini. On management, financing, and stakeholder management.

In Eswatini, water is becoming an increasingly vital resource. Climate change and a growing population demand careful management of surface and groundwater for agriculture (food security), drinking water, and energy.

Management Development trajectory

As part of the Management Development trajectory, a work visit was undertaken where one-on-one work was conducted between the Netherlands and Eswatini at the management and executive level with our direct partner organisation, the JRBA PB. Valuable steps were also taken with both the departing and the newly appointed board members.

Financing water management

During a work visit that focussed on financing, discussions were held on the successes, opportunities, and challenges of attracting external funds for the effective decentralisation of water management in the country.

Stakeholder management

During the third work visit, all key stakeholders in water management in Eswatini were consulted about their roles, tasks, and responsibilities, as there is confusion and associated tension due to overlaps and gaps. This is also aimed at bridging the current period during which the Water Act is being revised. Our aim is to work together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy to develop better coordination and governance, ensuring that access to water for everyone in Eswatini is guaranteed in the future.