Description of Project

International WaterCentre and QUT developed a training program in Integrated Water Resource Management for the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) of the Philippines.

NWRB is the lead government coordinating and regulating agency of all water resources development and management in the Philippines. NWRB is currently reviewing its water resource management approach from one based mainly on the productive use of water resources to one which is a comprehensive water resource management and development strategy.

This training program involved a two-week intensive training in integrated water resource management in the Manila (Dec 05) followed by a two-week training program in Brisbane, Australia to explore water reform in Queensland (Jan-Feb 06) for 16 senior NWRB staff.

Topics covered included: principles of IWRM; water efficiency planning; policy and legislation; River Basin management and planning; watershed management; surface and ground water management and modelling; environmental flows; demand management; operations and maintenance; water entitlements and trading; community participation and alternative dispute resolution. Following the training program, IWC and QUT provided ongoing mentoring to NWRB.