The UN Environment Programme GEMS/Water Capacity Development Centre (CDC) has come a long way since the start of its activity in the Environmental Research Institute (UCC, Cork) in 2014. The Centre provides Capacity Development in freshwater quality monitoring and assessment through a variety of activities. These activities encourage best practice to help countries generate sound water quality data and use this data effectively to improve water quality management.

Guidance and training are provided through face-to-face training workshops, on-line continuous professional development courses, and blended learning via our Postgraduate Diploma and MSc programmes. Some of the aspects included in the different modalities of learning are freshwater monitoring programme design, quality assurance, data handling and presentation, monitoring of groundwater and alternative methods for freshwater quality monitoring.

In total, we had the pleasure to engage with 107 countries from six different regions: Africa (37), Europe (23), Latin America and the Caribbean (15), West Asia (11), North America (2) and Asia and Pacific (19).

From these 107 countries, 43 received training (see map below) from the GEMS/Water CDC as workshops (Nairobi (Kenya), December 2017: 16 African countries; Dakar (Senegal), July 2018: 13 African countries, short online courses, or blended learning which includes a Postgraduate and a Masters programme. Those 43 countries are distributed as follows:

Africa (33): Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Morocco, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, RDC, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Chad, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Europe (2): Germany, Ireland.

Latin America and the Caribbean (4): Brazil, Barbados, Chile, Jamaica.

West Asia (3): Fiji, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nepal.

North America (1): United States of America.