Managing climate change impacts on water resources including floods and droughts, as well as competing demands from different sectors on dwindling resources and pollution, requires adequate human resources in the water sector. Yet, a lack of trained professionals in not only water but sanitation and hygiene (WASH), is a global challenge. The workforce is ageing, and water-related jobs are not popular among young professionals. Universities are struggling to match curricula with job-market needs and attract enough talent. Further, there are substantial gender inequalities in the global workforce with women only representing 21% of employees in water utilities.
These issues are shared among countries in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. During the Soviet period these states saw high levels of WASH investment, working in the sector was viewed as prestigious, and universities trained a sufficient number of skilled specialists. Since then, these factors have reversed, and while buoyed by international institutions, a mix of degrading infrastructure and persistent human resource challenges threaten the functioning of their water management systems. A newly released study, sponsored by the EU4Environment Water and Data program and carried out by UNECE, assesses the current status, trends, needs and possible solutions to these problems in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
Instruments including the UN Water Convention and the UNECE/WHO-Europe Protocol on Water and Health can help countries improve integrated water resources management at national and transboundary levels, and to strengthen governance of the water sector. Many countries in the Pan-European region are Party to one or both of these instruments.
EU4Environment Water and Data is an ambitious programme funded by the EU, Austrian Development Agency, and French Artois-Picardie Water Agency aimed at enabling the progress of the EaP states on the European Green Deal and the SDGs. Ensuring the robustness of water management systems is core to this mission and an immediate priority as survey results from national water resource departments in the project countries indicate that on average, they are currently 35% below the staffing levels needed to carry out their mandates.
The report provides recommendations for four key groups of actors to address the staffing shortage:
National Water Ministries
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Raise salary levels to make WASH jobs more competitive, as recently demonstrated by Moldova and Kazakhstan.
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Revise outdated practical standards, such as time standards, in light of digital efficiency innovations, releasing resources to be used for raising staff pay, as tested in Ukraine.
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Offer training to existing staff that both enhance their efficiency and allow them to remain competitive in the job market.
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Provide options for cooperation and travel, increasing motivation and learning from the experiences of peers.
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Promote the benchmarking of water sector performance, drawing on the experience of other countries and organizations are doing.
Water utilities and other water-related companies
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Use structured mentorship programs and practices to keep and motivate younger staff.
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Promote work-life balance policies that make a workplace more attractive for young talent.
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Seek agreements with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and universities to offer practical training/internships for water engineering and management students to attract future workforce.
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Keep requesting and justifying tariff increases to provide quality services and pay attractive salaries to keep a professional workforce.
Universities
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Seek agreements with water companies to learn their needs for the workforce.
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Review and modernize curricula for hydrologists and hydraulic engineers to ensure that students will gain professional skills and the knowledge needed in todays' job market.
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Develop doctoral and post-doctoral research programs to develop the capacity of the educators of future specialists.
Engagement with the EU and other donors
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Explore and promote twinning projects with EU Member States.
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Avoid the loss of capacity and institutional memory in public institutions by not hiring active civil servants in donor projects or, if hiring, providing assistance to fill the gap.
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Move from fragmented, project-based training to more mainstreamed and sustainable capacity building, by supporting training centres built into national systems.
In order to modernize the water sector, offer good quality public services, prepare for the green transition, and meet water-related Sustainable Development Goals, urgent and concrete action in the field of human resources is needed by national administrations, utility companies, donors and academia, as the situation is critical.
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Photo credit: Adobe Stock Images by Tomasz Zajda
