Dear colleagues,

I am running a workshop on PhotoVoice in WASH again in early October, do join if you can!

Sanitation has been traditionally hailed as a taboo and stigmatised topic, but in light of an increasing focus on inclusion of marginalised groups in infrastructure provision, we can learn from users about issues which are hidden within sanitation design and use.

I can help you to learn how to use a participatory technique called PhotoVoice, to better understand issues faced in WASH by groups including people with disabilities, those who live with incontinence, and women going through the menopause. Join me for this live-taught workshop on 'Cultural legacies of sanitation: using PhotoVoice in WASH'!

📅Wednesday 9th October 2024
⏰12pm-2pm GMT+1
Format: Online, live taught, certificate included as part of training fees!

Registration and tickets are available here:
Culturallegacies of sanitation: Using PhotoVoice in WASH Tickets, Wed, Oct 9, 2024 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

Book your slot today for this workshop taken by participants around the world!

***Discounted fees for participants from low- and middle-income countries!***
 
Please share this with your colleagues, and look forward to having you there!
Best wishes,
Amita

Looking forward to discover the benefits of our new Hidden WASH online workshops! Learn innovative strategies in water, sanitation, and hygiene that can transform your community. Register now to secure your spot!

Register today for my workshop, "Cultural legacies of sanitation: Using PhotoVoice in WASH"!

Join me online on Tuesday 2nd July 2024, 10am BST-12pm BST.

Through this highly interactive session, participants will be able to:

-Understand what is meant by hidden knowledge in WASH
-Describe what the PhotoVoice method is
-Outline the benefits of using PhotoVoice to understand the cultural legacies of sanitation
-Identify practical considerations to make when using PhotoVoice

Over the two hours, participants will hear from several key experts on using PhotoVoice in the WASH sector, with guest lectures from:
-Dr. Jane Wilbur (PhD) from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U. of London
- Zara Ansari from Acasus
-Dr. Sian White from the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub
- Brian Reed , Consultant, UK

Throughout the session, there will be plenty of opportunity for engagement through activities, in a workshop taken across the world by participants from Faculty of Planning CEPT University , The University of Western Australia , Cranfield University , University of Leeds , University of KwaZulu-Natal , Loughborough University , Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú , Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST) Kenya and more!

Register here! Discounted rates are available for low- and middle-income country participants:

Cultural legacies of sanitation: Using PhotoVoice in WASH Tickets, Tue, Jul 2, 2024 at 10:00 AM | Eventbrite  

Hello
I trust you are doing fine.
I will appreciate a skill in photovoice for community research
Thank you for the good job you are doing

Best Regards
Francoise
*Vice president EB AfroPHC*
*Founding President FAHEDEF*
*E-mail:* This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dear Paresh,
Thank you so much.

I am delighted to share that the session on the WASH needs of perimenopausal women was successfully ran at CEPT University in Ahmedabad earlier this year (see student blog here:  Understanding infrastructural needs for perimenopausal women - Amita Bhakta - Hidden WASH (amita-bhakta-hidden-wash.net)  ) and at the WASH R&D Centre at the University of KwaZulu Natal last week. I offer a 10% discount to any organisation (either NGO or University or govt) wanting to take both workshops on the perimenopause and using

PhotoVoice in WASH.
PhotoVoice is a method where you give people a camera over a few days as part of research/programming and they take pictures of the things that matter to them. I recently gave this training to a team looking at off-grid sanitation in South Africa, Kenya and Peru and they gave feedback that they managed to successfully use PhotoVoice in the field thanks to my training. So for anyone looking to use PhotoVoice as part of your work, or to integrate the perimenopause into programming, please get in touch! There is forthcoming guidance on  WASH for perimenopausal women which is due to be published through the Sanitation Learning Hub soon.

More info about the workshops is available here:  Workshops - Amita Bhakta - Hidden WASH (amita-bhakta-hidden-wash.net)  

Best wishes,
Amita

Dear Amita,
Thank you for announcing the lauch of your workshops. I loved the content and delivery of the first workshop. Thank you for letting me participate and also thanks to RWSN for organising it. Besides the content, I liked that there was enough time to interact with other participants, it allowed me to acknowledge and confront my own misunderstandings and biases. 

Having said that, I am curious to know more about 'photovoice' as a method. It is a novel method, but from your description, I could only gather that it involves photos. I was curious to know more about the method and the principles involved in deciding its appropriateness over other traditional methods.

Regards
paresh

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to announce the launch of brand-new 'Hidden WASH' online capacity building workshops, designed to support the WASH sector and suitable for professionals at any career stage from Masters level and above to address the needs of perimenopausal women and to use PhotoVoice in programmes and in academic research.  I welcome enquiries from any organisation in the WASH sector who would wish to book these workshops for group training. 

Hidden WASH needs of perimenopausal women  (half day)

As part of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda and taking into account an ageing population, particularly in the global South, it is important that the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) needs of the increasing number of older women who are making the transition to menopause, or are  perimenopausal, are met if we are to leave no-one behind. The perimenopause usually happens to women in their late 40s and 50s. In recent years, the WASH sector has explored  how to ensure effective menstrual hygiene management for adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries, but the needs of perimenopausal women who have irregular and erratic menstruation patterns, have been neglected. As the first form of training on this topic  in the WASH sector, this half day capacity development workshop uses empirical findings from Ghana and the UK to introduce the ‘hidden’ WASH needs of perimenopausal women, expanding current understandings of equity and inclusion. In this workshop, we explore what the perimenopause is, women’s hygiene needs during this lifestage and why they are hidden, and identify infrastructural issues faced by perimenopausal women from a WASH perspective. This workshop also helps participants to identify and implement the key infrastructural and software solutions needed to address the needs of perimenopausal women through WASH programming.

This course was recently ran at RWSN, and was developed over two years in collaboration with the University of Leeds, UK

Cultural legacies attached to sanitation:  seeing through the eyes of the user through PhotoVoice (2 hours)

Sanitation has been traditionally hailed as a taboo and stigmatised topic, but in light of an increasing focus on inclusion of marginalised groups in infrastructure provision, we can learn from users about issues which are hidden within sanitation design and use. ‘Cultural legacies’ are related to people’s experiences of using sanitation infrastructure, and the way in which particular ‘hidden’ user needs have been and continue to be neglected in sanitation design through generations. Drawing on research from Ghana, Malawi, Nepal, and Pakistan using PhotoVoice to explore topics ranging from disability and WASH, incontinence, the WASH needs of women during the perimenopause, and acceptability of shared toilets, this workshop demonstrates the importance of PhotoVoice as a method to explore taboos and cultural legacies left by users’ interactions with sanitation. This two-hour session will explore the concept of hidden knowledge and the importance of understanding hidden issues through PhotoVoice in providing inclusive sanitation for all.  Participants will be able to engage with and analyse photos from previous PhotoVoice work to understand why photography is important in understanding taboos in sanitation. Practical lessons on using PhotoVoice to learn about sanitation will be provided, and participants will be able to understand the relevance of this method for their research and sanitation programming and the practical aspects to consider.

This course was developed over two years in collaboration with the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, India

I welcome any enquiries about these courses and to book in groups for your organisations. For more information and to contact me for a brochure, visit this page:  Workshops - Amita Bhakta - Hidden WASH (amita-bhakta-hidden-wash.net)

Best wishes,
Amita