From words to water: Building the next generation of water professionals

In 2024, we sounded the alarm: the water and sanitation sector was losing the talent race. An aging workforce, invisible career paths, and a sector too often seen as stuck in the past were driving young professionals away — or keeping them from entering at all. We named the problem. We outlined the solutions. And we made a promise: to walk the talk.

It is time to report back.

The data has spoken — now what?

A 2026 survey  of 70+ young professionals across six Western Balkans countries confirms what many in the sector already sensed. These are educated, purposeful people — two-thirds women, nearly half holding a master’s degree — drawn to water by genuine purpose: engineering curiosity and environmental commitment. Yet the same survey reveals a sector failing to honor that commitment in return. Low salaries. No clear career paths. Young voices shut out of decisions. And a striking statistic: not a single professional outside the sector had applied for a water job in the past 12 months — despite rating its attractiveness at 7.25 out of 10.

The survey surfaced 7 clear patterns:

1. the salary gap is the top concern, undermining both attraction and retention;
2. the sector draws people in on mission but loses them on workplace conditions;
3. career paths are largely invisible, with learning happening in isolation and little structured mentorship;
4. access to jobs still depends heavily on personal connections, keeping talented but less connected candidates out;
5. the sector’s outdated digital tools and resistance to change are a liability for tech‑savvy youth;
6. young voices are routinely excluded from key decisions, eroding motivation and long-term commitment; and
7. regional and international exposure is highly valued but rarely offered in a structured way.

That is not a demand problem. That is a visibility and access problem. The talent is there. The pipeline just has no entry point.

This is the gap the Utility of the Future – Center of Excellence, a World Bank program developed in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), is now working to close — concretely, systematically, and at scale.

Three initiatives, one clear direction

The Center of Excellence is not waiting for the perfect conditions to act. Three concrete initiatives are already under way — each one addressing a specific gap identified in the data.

1. Young Water Professionals Network

The Young Water Professionals Network creates an open, organic space for young people across the region to connect, exchange ideas, and discuss the issues that matter most to them — from digital tools to climate adaptation. In a sector building a peer network is not a soft activity. It is a structural intervention.

2. Innovation Challenges for Young Professionals

The survey is clear: young professionals feel excluded from decisions. The Innovation Challenge turns that dynamic around. By inviting young professionals to propose concrete solutions to water sector challenges — non-revenue water reduction, energy efficiency, digital integration — the program treats them not as observers but as contributors. It signals, loudly, that the sector values new thinking. And it creates the kind of visibility and engagement that transforms interest into a career.

3. First Work Experience Program

This is where the evidence and the action converge most directly. Six recent graduates — one from each Western Balkans country — were selected for paid placements in water utilities activities. The only eligibility requirement: being a recent graduate. No prior experience required.

The design is deliberate. It dismantles the classic entry barrier — the demand for experience that candidates can only gain by already having a job. It responds directly to the survey's seven key findings: compensated placements address the salary gap; tailored learning pathways make career growth visible; mentorship from senior water specialists provides the structured guidance that young professionals consistently rank as a priority, even when they say it feels out of reach.

Participants are working on real challenges — non-revenue water, energy efficiency, digital systems — and contributing to real utility decisions. By 2026, a second cohort of six will join, beginning to build a regional community of early-career water practitioners who know each other, support each other, and collectively make the sector more visible to those who might follow.

The early results suggest the model works. The question now is whether the sector is ready to replicate it.

The Call to Action

The data is in. The analysis is done. The proof of concept is running. What remains is scale.

• For utilities: remove experience requirements from entry-level positions. Pair every new hire with a senior mentor from day one. Assign real work — not observation, not administrative support.
• For universities: build formal partnerships with water utilities that create structured internship-to-employment pathways, not one-off career fairs.
• For governments and regulators: invest in competitive compensation frameworks that can attract the talent the sector urgently needs. The survey's most sobering finding is simple: low salaries are the number one barrier, cited across all six countries, in every employer type.
• For development partners: replicate and finance first-job programs. Three to six month structured traineeships, built around the three pillars of experience, knowledge, and mentorship, are among the highest-return investments the sector can make.
• And for young professionals themselves: the water sector needs you — more than it has ever said out loud. If you are a recent graduate with a passion for engineering, environmental impact, or digital transformation, this sector offers work that is consequential, global, and growing. The entry points are being built. Use them.

The Utility of the Future – Center of Excellence is showing what it looks like to move from diagnosis to action. Now the sector must decide: who moves next?

Share your experience: Help shape the next generation of water careers. The story does not end with one survey. If you are a young professional already working in the water sector, a young professional in another field, or part of an organization that hires (or could hire) young talent, we invite you to add your voice.

• Survey for Young Professionals in the Water Sector
• Survey for Young Professionals Outside the Water Sector
• Survey for Water Sector /Utilities/Government/Organizations

Your responses will feed directly into the next phase of the Utility of the Future – Center of Excellence and its partners, helping to design first‑work‑experience programs, mentoring schemes, and hiring practices that work for both young professionals and institutions.

Note: The 2026 survey findings referenced in this blog are based on a voluntary, self-initiated survey of young professionals in the Western Balkans water sector and do not represent the official views of the World Bank Group.