Water Services Management

Start next run: October 2010
Duration: 18 Months
Location: UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands

Water Services Management studies the provision of water and sanitation services and the management of related infrastructure. The Water Services Management specialisation incorporates the analysis and design of institutional arrangements, financial instruments and business models for providing services in different socio-economic contexts.

Participant Profile

The Water Services Management specialisation is designed for professionals active in the water services sector. Participants from line ministries, water supply and waste water companies, municipal assemblies, but also from a NGO or CBO background are set to benefit from the well-balanced programme.

Learning objectives

After completing this specialisation, graduates will be able to:

• Concisely argue and defend a given position in current debates to contemporary water services management issues
• Design and assess institutional and managements arrangements for the provision of water services in a multi-disciplinary manner
• Explain concepts and procedures that are relevant for the day-to-day operational and organisational management of water sector utilities
• Explain financial instruments for the provision of water services
• Assess and design reform and change management strategies that integrate a combination of technical, legal, administrative and financial measures

Course contents

The Water Services Management specialisation offers six modules allowing the participants to broaden and deepen their understanding of specific management issues. Participants learn to apply some essential tools for managing water services.

• Water Supply and Sanitation Systems covers technical and engineering options, standards and developments. Participants match water supply and sanitation technology to a wide range of local conditions in order to ensure sustainable performance and technical reliability.
• Water Sector and Utility Management provides a general introduction to the subject of water services management. Specifically, participants analyze and discuss different institutional arrangements and management options for providing water services.
• Financial Management in the Water Sector enables participants to tackle finance issues at utility level. It suggests different ways of financing water companies and undertaking cost-recovery for sanitation and wastewater treatment. It dispels current myths about finance mechanism by clarifying concepts, objectives and tasks.
• Water & Environmental Law helps participants to understand the need for water and environmental legislation, and to become familiar with the most appropriate institutional and management arrangements for integrated water resources management.
• Managing Organisations and Change provides participants with a keen insight into what makes an organisation and its managers effective in addressing changing demand for services, and demonstrates how this effectiveness can be sustained.

In addition to the main modules of the WSM specialisation, participants can also choose one of the following modules as an elective:

• Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)
• Watershed and River Basin Management

The list below shows all course modules of the specialisation within the framework of the International Master Programme in Water Management (participants can choose between modules that have the same module-number). This is followed by a six month research and thesis phase. In total, the programme covers a period of 18 months and graduates will be awarded 106 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits.