Created in 1975, UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) constitutes the only intergovernmental programme of the UN system devoted to facilitating water research, water resources management and governance, and education and capacity building. 
In this endeavor, the IHP benefits from the support of the UNESCO Water family, which constitutes an extended network of water professionals based in water related Ministries (IHP National committees), universities, institutes and research facilities directly linked to IHP’s programmes in order to serve its Member States and build scientific knowledge. This network is composed of 168 IHP National Committees and focal points among UNESCO’s 195 Member States, 48 water-related chairs (interested universities around the world, aiming at bridging the knowledge gap) and 36 regional centres and institutes (working on relevant thematic and geographic priorities in their areas of expertise, under the auspices of UNESCO). 
In January 2017, the IHP launched its Water Information Network System (IHP-WINS), an open-access, cooperative and participatory web platform that incorporates geospatial data on water resources into a database to foster knowledge sharing and access to information. IHP-WINS allows gathering and disseminating information and knowledge developed by the UNESCO Water Family and other stakeholders. 
IHP-WINS acknowledges that in order to build a strong spatial data infrastructure, metadata is crucial. As a result, in addition to supporting standard data formats, the platform also supports standard metadata representations. Metadata and metadata servers enable users to integrate data from multiple sources, organizations, and formats. On IHP-WINS, metadata for geographical data include the data source, its creation date, format, projection, and additional information such as the source, author, an abstract, a quality statement, and point of contact. Metadata on IHP-WINS build on the GeoNode 2.6 Metadata. Services enable users to create a central, online metadata repository that facilitates publishing and browsing metadata over the Internet.