Key success factors for capacity development in the Brantas River Basin organisations in Indonesia

The Brantas River Basin has been developed under a stage-wise approach, with an evolving institutional set-up that has paved the path for the continuous development of water resources potentials within the basin. Following the maxim of ‘One river, One plan, One management’, the basin has profited from consistent steps of development, initially under the Brantas Project, into a service-based river basin organisation, namely Jasa Tirta I Public Corporation (PJT-I), established in 1990 and based on the principle of cost recovery. Capacity development in the basin is driven by challenges and has been reformulated several times to meet these challenges. During the development stage, the Brantas Project not only built the dam and other infrastructures, but also helped to establish the designer, planners and technicians for dam development in Indonesia. Nowadays, the sustainability of PJT-I depends on the trust of the Government and the satisfaction of the users who receive the services rendered. Key success factors of capacity development are strong leadership, incentive schemes and, most importantly, the spirit of innovation, the willingness to learn and the eagerness to take on new challenges.