ABSTRACT

Acquiring and producing new knowledge is a key component of capacity development. Whether this knowledge has been produced abroad or domestically does not really matter. This is true for all sectors of capacity development, including water. This chapter illustrates the need to strengthen education for any capacity development strategy, including water capacity development. The first section presents the concept of capacity development and shows its multi level dimension and its links to knowledge and education. The second section stresses the different roles of primary, secondary and tertiary education in capacity building, as well as the different levels of efforts needed to strengthen them in different countries. The final section shows how cross-border tertiary education, that is the mobility of people, institutions and programmes, contributes to capacity development and argues that it should be an instrument for capacity development.