A key factor for building resilient and sustainable urban water cycle systems worldwide is the creation of competent organisations. The ARC partners aim to develop and execute capacity building in the scope of core-funded or co-funded projects, in cooperation with local, national and regional institutions, exploring a combination between Collaborative Projects and Communities of Practice (CoP). Collaborative projects jointly capacitate organisations on predefined topics. They combine leading-edge research, utility capacity building, and 1-1 utility consultancy. This project format is particularly effective for topics or knowledge areas that require a considerable shift in mindset for the industry, as well as for decision-makers, politicians, the media, and society in general. This may include technologies, processes and management practice. Communities of Practice (CoP) as a structured way of bringing together people with similar or different expertise, are particularly effective to deal with challenging multi-disciplinary problems that are of interest to them.
Topics of possible capacity building initiatives supported by ARC partners include, among others, circular economy, public health, asset management, resiliency and climate change adaptation.