On 30 and 31 January 2023, the D-LeaP Committee Council met in Vienna. Participants from everywhere in the region sat down for a full day with a rich agenda, enjoying the first “live” full-day Council meeting since 2019.

You may or may not have heard it, but 2023 is special. It is the European Year of Skills, dedicated by the European Union to lifelong learning with the intention to empower people and companies to support innovation and competitiveness and to contribute to the ongoing green and digital transitions. Which somehow adds extra context to last week's Committee Council Meeting of D-LeaP, the Danube Learning Partnership – our community's long-standing skill building program.

Legally, D-LeaP is a committee of IAWD, the International Association of Water Service Companies in the Danube River Catchment Area, with governance from national water utility associations. To deliver its multiple programs in numerous participating countries and their languages, D-LeaP relies on a range of key actors with very specific roles and responsibilities.

The overall responsibility for the development and implementation of the capacity building programs under D-LeaP rests with the Committee Council, which consists of nominated representatives of IAWD and the partnering national water utility associations.

The pillars of the program delivery are the D-LeaP Associates:

• Technical Partners are the Associates that create and update the content and tools used in the D-LeaP trainings, and also train the trainers during program implementations.
• Hubs are Associates that operate as the visible faces of D-LeaP, shouldering the physical delivery of the capacity building trainings in national languages.
• Last but not least, the D-LeaP Secretariat handles the practical everyday management of training programs, their quality and the necessary resources and technical partnerships.

That said, let us return to the Committee Council Meeting: Representatives of NALAS, the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe, GIZ-RCDN, the Regional Capacity Development Network managed by the German Agency for International Cooperation, SECO, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and the national water utility associations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Montenegro, IAWD staff members and World Bank staff members gathered in the Viennese World Bank premises.

Topping the day's agenda were the presentation of the final D-LeaP Annual Report 2022, a review of the D-LeaP delivery plans of the Hubs including the required financial resources in preparation of the D-LeaP Work Plan 2023, an in-depth look at potential synergies with an upcoming Regional Capacity Development Network RCDN+ project, and a long-term view of D-LeaP's overall sustainability and how to reach it.

All in all, participants had a pleasant and at the same time highly productive day, starting the European Year of Skills by setting the course on ever more and ever better capacity building to support our members, our community and our region.