Water management is conflict management. Regardless of the scale, ensuring that the needs of the people and ecosystems that rely on this critical resource are met effectively, requires comprehensive understanding of both water science and water diplomacy, including dispute mitigation, management, and resolution.

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To address these needs, the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands, the University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica, and Oregon State University (OSU) in the USA, designed a joint education programme in Water Cooperation and Diplomacy.

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The goal of this educational initiative is to train future water managers and other professionals to address competition over water. The programme’s curriculum broadens the scope of approach to conflict and peace, provides a theoretical dimension to conflict, engages with multi-level conflict dimensions and strengthens skills through highly experiential learning opportunities.

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Students in this programme receive academic training at all three institutions as a cohort while studying and exchanging with the students of all three institutions during their stay. As students move through the programme, they individually select a topic for a thesis under guidance of an academic advisor from one of the partner institutions. Throughout the programme, students receive academic and logistical support from all three institutions.