Thank you Mugal for your suggestions.
We have tried to stress the importance of capacity development on different levels in teh factsheet.
If you do think we should address more specifically the need for targeting capacity development initiatives to and the promotion of capacity development in the water sector through gouvernmental organisation I am open to this.
I suggest to adapt the highlight this fact more explicitely in the section "strategies and approaches":

(...) It is important to develop strategies according to the specific level (individual, organisational, enabling environment) and the domain (knowledge and information, skills, and attitudes) of the capacity being built.
(...)
• Assess gaps in capacity within a country and support planning, implementation and monitoring of performance for capacity development within the country.
• Consider a country-led approach and build on internal processes by identifying local drivers for sustainable sanitation (e.g. groundwater pollution, food security, etc.).
• Adapt language and means of communication to the local context.
• Create strategic partnership within different actors e.g. businesses, local governments and institutions that are actually implementing capacity development such as knowledge sharing and training.
• Focus on relationships between the enabling environment and other levels to align training and development of individual skills with organisational reforms and institutional changes.
• Increase awareness of sustainable sanitation through the media and special events, such as the World Toilet Day on 19 November each year.

Thanks, Mr. Mughal, for your suggestions. Your point about announcing capacity building opportunities more effectively through multiple channels is well taken.

While the factsheet gives good information, its trend has been to give out resources and links, which people can access, for capacity building.

In developing countries, the sanitation works are mostly handled by the government departments. The government officers and staff for sanitation do not the flair to search and access resources for capacity building. The capacity "builders" have to come to them, to build their capacity, if it is desired that their capacity be strengthened. This is based on my over 35 years' of professional experience in sanitation.

A unfortunate output of below-average knowledge of the staff is the production of irrational and inappropriate sanitation technologies, which serve nothing and, are a waste of public money.

I recommend that the capacity building institutions be requested to offer training programs in sanitation for developing countries. The strengthening programs are normally offered through government channels. In addition, they should also be advertized by giving ads in local newspapers. That way, the sanitation staff will have "easy and direct access" to the training program invitations, which they can make use of with relative ease.


F H Mughal (Mr.)

PS: I suggest that the caption of the report should read as:

"Sustainable Sanitation - 13 Factsheets on Key Sanitation Topics"
Emphasis should first be on sanitation and then on 13 FSs.
Thanks.

I did my Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering (majoring in Water and Wastewater Engineering)from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, in 1975. I have been working on water, sanitation and environmental issues for the last over 35 years. I'm currently based in Karachi, Pakistan.

The best approach for young children and school children is role-play and theatre; showing bad and good behaviour and the results. Making a play and enacting a drama is fun and educative, and has a lasting impact. The play can be shown at school and for parent groups as well as in village and town context. Other schools can make variations on the same theme or follow the format for other themes.

Strategies and Approaches
Change in toilet systems from water flush systems towards dry composting, UDT and ecosan toilets requires change in behaviour. Such behavioural change is more difficult for older people who have become used to their water flush toilets, than for younger people. Introducing UDT, composting and ecosan toilets should therefore focus on primary schools, while environmental education needs to focus on both youngsters and adults.

Thanks Sjoerd - I also think this is a very good point. Initially I did not want to make repetition regarding the factsheet from WG7a (www.susana.org/lang-en/library/rm-susana...eitem&type=2&id=1229 - p 59).
But I think there is still some space to mention your point in the WG1 factsheet and refer to factsheet on schools - for instance we could add an example in the section "Strategies and Approaches".
Would you be ready to suggest 1 or 2 sentences regarding this aspects and/or examples?
You can find the last version also in the compilation under the link above.
Best Dorothee

Thanks, Sjoerd. Good point about the desirability of focussing on younger people when it comes to adoption of new behavior and technology. Do you recommend any particular approaches to working with children? Can you recommend links?

I've noticed in Portland, Oregon where we work that household of people in their twenties seem to differ from households of people in their forties when it comes to toilet choices and attitudes on sanitation. The younger the households, the more environmental education they've had and the clearer they are on the need for change.

Environmental and hygiene/sanitation training for kids is great. The problem is it may be years before they become decision-makers either in the home or the society. So I'd also be interested in learning about successful sanitation awareness programs among university students or what guides the choice of individuals to pursue sustainable sanitation as a career.

Capacity building in sanitation has as objective to install and operate ecologically and economically improved systems, not only that people know how it works better. In capacity building for different methods of sanitation than the ones used by a population group, change of behaviour is involved, also by the capacitated people.
People already using a sanitation model are resistant to change, but young children that are learning their behaviour are easy to change through demonstration and training.
For this reason capacity building for changing sanitatio behaviour needs an important focus on children and primary schools.
This aspect is not explicitely mentioned in the factsheet.
Sjoerd Nienhuys
www.nienhuys.info

Hi Philipp,
very nice to saw your view on this forum, ...i need to take some time to digest the topics disscussed on the forum.

Huaibing
regards

Dear all
I 'm a new SuSanA Member and I come from China, it's my first time to reply this forum, the topics for discussion is very interesting and pertinency.hope i can laarn more from everybody, thanks.

All the best
Huaibing

Dear Dorothee,

The document is looking good.

With my little input in the document, I was wondering if I could be acknowledged as simply a contributor. As Evans Tembo (Ministry of Health, Zambia).

Kindly advise.

Thank you!!

Evans Tembo
Lusaka, Zambia

Dear members of the SuSanA working group 1 on capacity development,

We have now uploaded the revised Factsheet “Capacity development for sustainable sanitation”:


The factsheet was kept in the same structure as the one compiled in 2008. However, the text has been completely revised.
As we do not have an “umbrella capacity development strategy” for SuSanA, we have mainly focused on
1) describing our point of view on what capacity development for sustainable sanitation is and how it could be implemented;
2) a (not exhaustive) list of capacity development initiatives of SuSanA partners.

Any feedback is very welcome.
Please let us also know:
- if your organisation is part of this list, but you would like to revise the paragraph
- if your organisation is not part of this list, but you think it should be
- if your name figures in the authors or acknowledgment, but you think it shouldn’t
- if you are not listed as author or in the acknowledgements, but you think you should be there…

In the future, we would like to have the updated information on what partners are doing in the field of capacity development for sustainable sanitation and there contact details on the SuSanA webpage (www.susana.org). However, we would like to have an approach, where partners are responsible of including this information related to their organisations in this list and to keep this information always up to date. Please let us know if you think this is feasible and how it could be implemented?

All the best
Dorothee