We are

The Regional Capacity Development Network (RCDN) for Water and Sanitation Services connects local government units, water utilities and their associations from South-East Europe to work together on developing capacities of the water and sanitation service sector. RCDN makes improvements happen through collaborative design and delivery of innovative, affordable and highly efficient capacity development products of high quality standards that are tailored to local needs.

RCDN objectives

RCDN aims at improving the performance of local government units and water utilities in delivering water and sanitation services to citizens by enriching the regional capacity development offer, establishing partnerships and enabling capacity development environment.

Activities

RCDN offers unique capacity development products for water and sanitation services targeting top and middle management in local government units and water utilities.

RCDN uses eight different capacity development formats aiming at developing competences of individuals (e.g. training, training of trainers), providing support to organisational development (e.g. advisory services, peer exchange) and fostering cooperation (e.g. dialogue platform, conference management).

Donors

The Project which is supporting the Regional Capacity Development Network is managed by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) – Open Regional Fund for Modernisation of Municipal Service (ORF MMS) on behalf of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

RCDN as a Response to Challenges

RCDN responds to the poor performance of the water and sanitation service sector by addressing the limited number of sufficiently trained and qualified staff in local government units and water utilities. RCDN capacity development products have a strong potential for strengthening the capacities of local government units and water utilities to deliver higher quality services. The RCDN products are:

  • Qualitative and innovative, built from the regional and international best practices but tailored to the local needs;
  • Targeting both local government units and water utilities and thus enhancing their cooperation;
  • Delivered by associations of local government units and associations of water utilities according to the same quality standards in the whole region;
  • More affordable due to better efficiency and building on replication and upscaling of current initiatives in the region;
  • Cost-effective as they provide excellent value for money.

RCDN team

RCDN is a partnership of 16 national associations – 7 associations of local government units and 9 associations of water utilities from 6 countries in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Partner Association: