The Department of Management and Institutions (MAI) addresses the themes of water management and governance, in order to contribute to the sustainable management and wise use of water and environmental resources, and to improve access to and management of water and sanitation services.
The department therefore conducts a comprehensive programme of problem-driven and solution-oriented research in various parts of the developing world.
The research programme feeds into the MSc programme in Water Management, with its three specializations – water resources management, water services management and water quality management.
Department staff members are also extensively involved in international capacity building and network programmes.
The department has two core groups:
The work of the department addresses institutions at various levels, ranging from local users and stakeholder groups (urban and rural), to international river basin authorities.
Contact Frank Jaspers, Head MAI Department for more information about the Management and Institutions Department.
It involves fields of knowledge that are cross-cutting, integrating and multidisciplinary, encompassing bottom-up as well as top-down approaches.
Throughout this work, the emphasis is on poverty alleviation and empowering all stakeholders, especially the underprivileged, by encouraging their participation in decision making regarding the management of water and environmental resources.
The challenge of the department is to integrate the key disciplines of management, engineering, agronomy, economics, public administration and the social sciences.