One of the key responsibilities of ISA is to ensure that specific programmes are created and implemented to develop and/or strengthen the capacities of developing States and technologically less developed States. In so doing, ISA is committed to ensure that all programmes and initiatives implemented are meaningful, tangible, efficient, effective and targeted at the needs of developing States, as identified by them.

This position has been strengthened by ISA's Assembly through its decisions in 2020 on the implementation of a programmatic approach to capacity development ISBA/26/A/18, and again in 2022 on the first ever dedicated capacity development strategy ISBA/27/A/5.

In carrying out this important mandate several programmes and initiatives have been implemented by ISA since 1994, namely:
i. the Deep Dive ISA's e-learning platform                                         ii. National Capacity Development Workshops (Natl CD Wksp)
iii. the Abyssal Initiative for Blue Growth project (Abyssal)    iv. the Africa Deep Seabed Resources (ADSR) project, including the                                                                                                                 deployment of ADSR experts within the ISA Secretariat
v. the Contractors' Training Programme (CTP)                             vi. the Endowment fund for marine scientific research in the Area (EFMSR)
vii. the ISA internship programme (IP)                                         viii. the ISA-China Joint Training and Research Centre (JTRC)
ix. the ISA-Ifremer Postdoctoral Fellowship in Deep-Sea Taxonomy (IFREMER Fell.)        x. Sustainable Seabed Knowledge Initiative (SSKI)
xi. the Workshop on the development of a Regional Environmental Management Plan (REMP Wksp).

This ISA capacity-building dashboard provides access to detailed information on participation to these different initiatives, with a number of filters and ways to view the data, e.g., per year, per country or region, per gender, per type of programme, etc. Statistics of trainees of least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS) are also provided.