Interim directorship on the preparation of a strategic plan and advice as part of a mirror group

Case
Water Governance and Climate

Supporting a strategic plan for the National Center for Water Modelling in Colombia

Netherlands Enterprise Agency

Colombia was hit by torrential flooding in late 2010 and at the beginning of 2011. Hundreds of people perished and the country’s physical infrastructure suffered extensive damage. Substantial portions of Colombia have been plagued for years by heavy and persistent rainfall, caused by natural phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña. The effects of climate change, the increase in rainfall and flood frequency, and drought are all factors having a negative impact on Colombia’s economy and infrastructure.

Contact

The Netherlands was asked to advise on the realisation of the National Center for Water Modelling in Colombia (NMC). The NMC’s objective is to influence policy-making, enable integrated planning and encourage a proactive attitude in governments and institutions involved in the management and operation of hydrological networks and water modelling. By doing this, it can anticipate the effects of hydrological dynamics and climate change on existing and planned major infrastructural works.

Twynstra’s role

Our experts provided support on the following aspects of the NMC: design of sustainable governance and decision-making structures, institutional development, opportunities for collaboration and public-private partnerships, multi-level stakeholder management, and long-term strategy development and implementation.

Results

In early 2015, Twynstra was asked to advise on the governance, institutional and organisational aspects for the realisation of the NMC. As such, we produced the report ‘The first steps for establishing a National Center for Water Modelling in Colombia’. This report presents three phases for the further development of the NMC into a mature and independent institute within five years. The report forms the basis for the implementation process and acts as a guideline to address the institutional and technical challenges for the NMC’s sustainability.

In 2016, Twynstra was asked to be part of a Dutch mirror group to support the Colombian interim director of the NMC together with both Rijkswaterstaat (an agency of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment) and Deltares (an independent institute for applied research in the field of water and subsurface).

This mirror group supported the Colombian interim director who was preparing the strategic plan for the further implementation of the NMC, including a roadmap for the long-term vision on how the centre would operate. Our support focused on the technical, institutional and financial aspects of this plan.