Background

The Myanmar Young Water Professional (YWP) Program is a joint Australia–Netherlands venture to support YWPs from government and academia. Twelve YWPs participated in a full-time 1-year training and mentoring program run by the Hydro-Informatics Centre (HIC), where they will continue their work at the conclusion of the program.

Objective

The Program is designed to create the next generation of water leaders in Myanmar by exposing them to a wide range of issues and disciplines that make up the complex picture of integrated water management and river basin planning in the Ayeyarwady.

Outcome

The YWPs participated in a range of exercises to gain an understanding of the comprehensive, collaborative and strategic approach needed to sustainably manage the Ayeyarwady Basin, with some of their experiences contributing to real, tangible outcomes such as the national water law review, the institutional review and the State of the Basin Assessment (SOBA) Report. The exercises included guest seminars and lectures, hands-on training modules, study tours, research, team building, learning “on the job” and learning English.

The Program takes an important step to link with leading global academic institutions from Australia and the Netherlands through a program of certificated short-courses. The courses were implemented by Australia’s International WaterCentre, WaterAid and other Australian and Dutch centres of excellence.

YWPs drew on the SOBA reports to prepare their analysis of water issues and management responses in their final projects, making them one of the first users of SOBA since it was launched at the Asia-Pacific Water Summit in December 2017.