The Centre carried out a systemic attempt to identify and then foster speedy development of the next generation of water leaders. The programme has the following objectives:

• Identification of potential water leaders of the next generation from all over the world;
• Facilitate interactions between the potential leaders, as well as between the potential leaders and the current leaders;
• Involve the potential leaders in discussions of important national and international water issues at appropriate fora;
• Encourage the young leaders to develop their own vision(s) for water for the coming decades; and
• Promote an informal but functional network between the young leaders, as well as with the currently established leaders.

More than 300 nominations were received for this programme from all over the world. An International Selection Committee, consisting of the world's leading water experts selected 14 of the best nominations received. They were Odeh Al-Jayyousi (Jordan), Mohamed Abdel Aty Sayed (Egypt), Naser I. Faruqui (Canada), Caroline Figuères (The Netherlands), Karin Kemper (Germany), Vimal Garg (India), Sanderson Alberto Medeiros (Brazil), Taikan Oki (Japan), Johan Rockström (Sweden), Cristopher Scott (USA), Dajun Shen (China), Cecilia Tortajada (Mexico), Zahir Uddin Ahmad (Bangladesh), Aaron T. Wolf (USA).

The first meeting of the next generation of leaders was organised in conjunction with the World Water Forum in The Hague, The Netherlands, in March 2000. The Second World Water Forum attracted more than 5000 participants from all over the world. Special arrangements were made so that these potential young leaders had an opportunity to interact intensively with the present generation of leaders, including the Chairman of the World Commission on Water, Dr. Ismail Serageldin.

The second meeting of the next generation of water leaders was also held in the Hague in June 2001. Each member produced an analysis of what they considered to be the most important water issues of the next decade from their own perspective. Following these discussions, the contributions were finalized and peer reviewed. The selected papers has been published as a book, Rethinking Water Management by Earhscan. For more information visit our Publications Section

Following the second meeting, membership of the Group was reviewed. The Group currently has 8 of the 14 original members: Odeh Al-Jayyoussi, Naser I. Faruqui, Caroline Figueres, Johan Rockstrom, Christopher Scott, Dajun Shen, Cecilia Tortajada and Aaron T. Wolf. A ninth member was added: Dr. Rajiv Gupta (India).

The Group met during the Third World Water Forum at Kyoto in March 2003, where they also organised a session on "Water Management In The Future: An Intergenerational Dialogue". In addition to the current members of the Group, H. E. Dr. Mahmoud Abu-Zeid, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation of the Government of Egypt and President of the World Water Council, and Prof. Kazuo Takahashi, Member of the World Commission on Water, participated in this dialogue.

Selected papers by the members of this Group prepared for the Kyoto Forum were published in the June 2004 issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This 3-year project was completed in December 2003.