SMEC has provided training and assistance on many projects in overseas countries to help :

• strengthen the capability of implementing authorities to undertake similar work in the future; and
• develop the organisation, staff and resource management capabilities for project planning, development and operation and maintenance.

SMEC considers that an important part of achieving improved access to water and sanitation services is developjing effective institutional structures which ensure the sustainable delivery of those services. In many countries public utility organisations have the responsibility for water supply and sanitation. World Bank experience notes "institutional failure" as the most frequent and persistent cause of poor performance by public utilities. There are many international examples of the successful corporatisation and privatisaion of water utility organisations where the organisational culture has changed from that of a government utility unaccountable to the public to one where the needs of the public come first. SMEC has first hand experience of this process through its own corporatisation and subsequent privatisation and has carried out institutional reviews and restructuring of numerous water authorities and public sector organisations in Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

In South Africa SMEC is providing technical support for the restructuring and direction of the rural water and sanitation division in KwaZulu-Natal, including the establishment of a new water board for the Tugela Basin. In a similar project SMEC is providing institutional support to the Solomon Islands Water Authority.

SMEC has specialised in providing on-the-job training on many of the projects it has implemented as an integral part of ensuring effective transfer of technology to counterpart staff and project operatives. SMEC's personnel have worked with one or more assigned counterpart staff where the team member directly guides and supervises the work of his or her counterparts. This has proven to be a most successful way of encouraging and enhancing the technical skills of the client's staff.