RTi has extensive experience in strengthening and developing water institutions at multiple levels. These services include building and developing new water institutions, strengthening existing water institutions, and building effective linkages between water institutions and between water institutions and water users.

Both internationally and nationally, RTi staff and associates have been instrumental in developing numerous water programs and projects for multilateral and unilateral donors, including USAID, The World Bank, and The Asian Development Bank. RTi staff and associates also have helped to develop and implement new water policies, laws, strategies, and programs. For example, as a result of RTi's work, El Salvador formed a new land studies agency, Servicio Nacional Estudius Territoriales (SNET) for flood forecasting in the Río Lempa River Valley. Following training and technical assistance from RTi, Mexico's Comision Nacional del Agua (CNA) established a national hydrologic forecast center for regional and international forecasting and data exchange. RTi also assisted Romania and Tajikistan in developing and implementing the legal basis for local, community-based water organizations, and increasing user participation in new water institutions.

RTi staff are involved in institutional and capacity development efforts in Africa and the South Caucuses. In both areas, RTi staff are assisting multiple governments to collect information on transboundary rivers, developing databases for the hydrometeorological data, and developing the water resources management and planning tools that use the data. Data will be shared among the countries in the region via common websites and the internet. Ultimately, the information and data sharing will lead to policy, legal, and structural changes within and between the countries, as well as to the development of local river basin groups and smaller Water User Associations (WUAs).