First Day of the Training

The first day of Short Training Course on Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) covered a range of issue in the domain. The resource persons who facilitated and trained included Mr. Ashutosh Tiwari (Country Representative, WAN), Mr. Suman Pd. Sharma (Director General, Department of Water Supply and Sewerage), Mr. Nanda Khanal (Water Supply and Sanitation Division), and Mr. Binaya Shah (Water and Sanitation Specialist, ICON).

Mr. Tiwari, based on the comparative assessment of incidents in Jajarkot of 2009/10 and London of 1850, shed light on health, social, economic and political aspects of WASH in Nepal. Moreover, he highlighted on why WASH counts as one of the most important issues in development.  

Mr. Suman Pd. Sharma provided an overview of WASH sector in Nepal. He also illustrated the progress done in the sector so far, the challenges faced till the date, and the opportunities ahead along with the potential distracting factors. He ended with the note that the goal set by MGD for 2015 and National Target for 2017 can only be achieved only if all the stakeholders put an extra effort with their good commitment.

Mr. Nanda Khanal elucidated the components in National Hygiene and Sanitation Master Plan which was launched a few days before. He highlighted on what has been done in policy aspects, strategies and master plans and shared on MPPPW’s initiative on SEIU and JSR recommendations.

Mr. Binay Shah offered a comprehensive understanding of the stakeholders in WASH. With this illustration, he focused on the reasons and the nature of institutional mapping. One of the major problematic in WASH, he clarified, is the nature of link among the stakeholders – the dominant link i.e.¸ vertical is unlikely to create synergy which can be attained through horizontal one.  

Overall, first day of the training concentrated on fundamentals of WASH, the existing scenario, government policies, and the problems due to institutional mapping of key stakeholders.