In 1995, as a direct response to the need for professional manpower development in the water sector, the Egyptian Government took the initiative to establish the first regional centre for capacity building in River and Hydraulic Engineering. The Dutch Government supported this initiative financially and IHE Delft provided technical assistance. The regional training centre (RTC) was established at the premises of one of the strongest research institutes in the region: the Hydraulic Research Institute (HRI) in Egypt. In a short time the centre became well known not only within Nile basin Countries but also further in the African Continent and Arab Peninsula.

One of the effects of bringing mid-career professionals from the region together for specialized training in a regional centre was the special open atmosphere that was created by them leading to exchanging different views and opinions.As a result many strong friendships emerged spontaneously during those training courses. This triggered the idea of developing a network of professionals that could facilitate a continuous interaction among them once the training had been finished.

 The main objective was to create an environment in which professionals from the water sector sharing the same river basin would have the possibility to exchange ideas, best practices and lessons learned. Such an environment could best be established by fostering a network through which education, training, research and exchange of information for and by professionals can take place. The idea of a Nile Basin Capacity Building Network: NBCBN was born.
 
The idea became reality when in June 2000 the Dutch Government decided to support this challenging project through its SAIL Program and the involvement of IHE-Delft as the facilitating institution. The approach taken was to let the network develop gradually, building on what is already available, and to stimulate and support further regional co-operation. Therefore the logic was to choose the successful HRI Regional Training Centre as the regional focal centre for capacity building in River Engineering. Realizing the experimental character of the project and especially the complexity of the network development process the scope was deliberately limited to just one domain of water field: River Engineering: NBCBN-RE. This domain includes aspects like river processes, river morphology, GIS, hydropower, surveys, monitoring, forecasting and modelling and river engineering works like regulating and navigation works. The vision was that if this pilot appeared to be successful and feasible, other water domain areas could adopt this model and to start similar initiatives
 
In January 2002 a kick-off workshop was held in Cairo to mark the official start of the Nile Basin Capacity Building Network in River Engineering (NBCBN-RE). More than 50 representatives of all ten Nile basin countries and the representatives of various regional and international organizations (including the Nile Basin Initiative) participated in this event and designed the basic principles of the network. Participants agreed upon the network as an open network of national and regional capacity building institutions and professional sector organisations. Furthermore, “Applied research” was proposed as the main focus of the network for the time being as the development of new knowledge was considered as one of the most critical obstacles towards regional socio-economic development. The reasoning was also that research was seen as the main knowledge driver that would then automatically lead to dissemination through training and education. Another important feature of the network that was adopted was that it would include all the “stakeholders” involved in the water sector: Ministries, research institutions, universities, consultants, contractors, NGOs, etc.
 
The ownership of the NBCBN-RE Network is with the participating institutions from all the Nile countries under the umbrella of the NBI. The output of this workshop and the commitment of the representatives of all ten Nile basin countries to actively participate in the building of the Nile Basin Capacity Building Network were clearly expressed in the “Cairo Declaration”. On the recommendation of the Nile-TAC (Technical Advisory Committee), the Nile-COM (The meeting of the Ministers of Water Resources from all ten Nile countries) endorsed the statements of the Cairo Declaration. This marked also the moment that the NBCBN became part of the NBI activities.

The progress that has been made in developing the NBCBN-RE network since its official launch in 2002 is extremely encouraging. Special emphasis is given in the NBCBN-network to build an environment for stimulating and supporting collaborative applied research. In parallel to the node development activities, the network is supporting the development of joint regional research clusters. Six country nodes have volunteered to act as the host institution for a particular regional research cluster: Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. They take the lead in coordinating and implementing joint applied research in a specific topic of river engineering together with several of the other nodes participating in the research activities. Regular research cluster events are being organized in each of these hosting countries.