Capacity Building for the Water Sector in Mexico An Analysis of Recent Efforts

Abstract

Present and future improvements in efficiency of the water sector in Mexico depend on the development of a cadre of well-trained professional managers in the public and private sectors, as well as on the strengthening of the private and public sector institutions. Considerable investments are needed, but the efforts will pay back in terms of more rational policy-making and management practices. This paper analyzes several important exercises on capacity building in Mexico, which took place between 1990 and 2000. Present efforts on capacity building, achievements, and concerns are also considered in terms of the training and education needed to build a new generation of water professionals who can meet the current challenges and the needs of the coming decades. The needs of the water sector in terms of capacity building have been assessed in Mexico several times in the past. The conclusions and the results have always been the same: there is an urgent need to develop better educated managers and water professionals, both in terms of numbers and skills. Even though the needs have been identified repeatedly for over a decade, and despite continuous official rhetorics on the importance and urgency of capacity building, no long-term country-specific program on capacity building has yet been developed, let alone implemented.