International Partners

The mission of the International Partnerships Program is to establish and maintain fruitful relationships with governments and other organizations internationally to encourage information exchange, cooperation, and collaboration on improving approaches and techniques that can achieve flood risk reduction.

The list below highlights recent collaborative initiatives and exchanges:

USACE-Rijkswaterstaat Collaboration
Jan Hendrik Dronkers, Director General of the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat (RWS), and Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), co-chaired a June 2016 steering committee meeting to review technical exchanges between the RWS and USACE. A Levee Safety Working Group, established under an agreement between the two organizations, has held regular partnership meetings over the past ten years to explore areas and issues of common interest, conducted workshops and training sessions, performed peer reviews of design and technical documents, conducted joint research, and enabled multiple staff exchanges by both the Dutch and U.S. partners. Attendees concluded their U.S. visit with a tour of the New Orleans Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System.
6th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM6)
USACE participated in ICFM6, a triennial international conference focused on flood management, on 16-18 September 2014 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Mr. James Dalton, Chief, Engineering and Construction, presented information on lessons learned from various recent disasters during the event's closing plenary session. USACE staff presented five technical papers and two posters highlighting flood risk management program progress, participated in a plenary session regarding an International Flood Initiative being promoted through the International Centre for Water Hazard, and joined discussions with international partners.
Building Resilient Asian Cities initiative
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers supported a "Building Resilient Asian Cities initiative" of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Regional Development Mission for Asia. A team from the Corps' Institute for Water Resources held a 3-day working session 14-16 January 2014 on Shared Vision Planning (SVP) with the city of Hue's (Vietnam) core working group (representing the departments of transport, tourism, academia, urban planning, and flood management) and in coordination with local officials and decision makers (the People's Planning Committee). Working session outcomes included a preliminary Shared Vision Planning model, decision objectives, and a water resources work plan that identified local commitments and follow-up tasks. The Shared Vision Planning model is focused on assisting Hue officials in developing flood management plans with insights on cost effectiveness, hydropower, and socio-economic tradeoffs, including risk to cultural heritage sites.
International Levee Handbook Development
A consortium of professionals from six participating countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United States coordinated development of an International Levee Handbook, published in 2013. The 1350-page handbook was written by experts and practitioners from the participating countries in the project consortium and draws together scientific knowledge and practical experience.