Short
Training Course
on
Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH
Organized Jointly
Organized Jointly
By
Department of Environmental Engineering and
Mechanical Engineering
At
with support
from
WATER AID /Nepal
March 16th
18th 2012
Dhulikhel, Kavre
Dhulikhel, Kavre
1.
Context and Rationale:
WASH Access Coverage: The existing Coverage in access to Water and Sanitation
facilities in Nepal is
respectively 81% and 43% repectively and this indicates that Nepal
This sanitation figure again comes down when compared with
the JMP report which only counts on the improved sanitation facilities. In
addition, when considered about the functionality and reliability in terms of
quality and quantity, the water access figure comes down to somewhere 57% and
water around 27%.
Out of the total having access to sanitation facilities,
only 12% are connected to Municipal sewer systems or open drains without prior
treatment. Majority of piped sewer systems are released directly to water
bodies without prior treatment.
Scarce water sources are
reaching to vulnerability: The surface water, ultimate
sources of water supply, is now most vulnerable to pollution for their potable
water supply. Most of the urban towns are increasingly suffering from various
natural calamities such as drought and flood in Tarai belt whereas landslides
in hilly areas and these are getting increasingly unpredictable climate
affecting seasonal rains. Therefore, despite water often being available, safe
supplies are often far from settlements, discouraging use or increasing burden
of fetching.
Benefits that contribute
to Nepal’s development: It has been estimated that the
economic returns-in terms of health, education and livelihood benefits – from
every dollar invested on water and sanitation are worth about nine US dollars
(Source: WHO 2008. Sanitation generates economic benefits, fact sheet).
Similarly, educating people about hygiene and promoting the practice of hand
–washing with soap is a simple and cost effective measure that can help prevent
diarrhea by 45% (Source: Fatal Neglect Report, WaterAid, 2009).
Existing Efforts to plan and manage Water Resources and Gaps
in WASH access coverage are still not enough: The
country’s population growth is in an increasing trend, but the current efforts
in WASH development from the sector actors are relatively insufficient to meet
the national target of reaching universal access by 2017. The resulting
population and development pressures, competing uses, and poor water resource
management serve to compromise quantity, quality and therefore access to water
and sanitation. Most of the population of the country; be it in urban or in
small town or in rural areas; all are now facing acute shortage of water. The
surface water, one of the ultimate sources of water supply, is now most
vulnerable to pollution for potable water supply. This however is indicating
that WASH sector requires more investment; and more coherent and coordinated
approach than ever before. However, the current trend of efforts in both the
cases by the sector actors is clearly indicating its insufficiency to meet to
meet either MDG target of sanitation by 2015 or national target of achieving
universal access to WASH facilities by 2017. The actors in this sector is less
and still the preferences of the government and development partners are not
strong in WASH thus not being able to address the issues of WASH holistically
(i.e. from diversified aspects such as function of town, settlement pattern,
demography, degree of autonomy, degree and type of inter-connectedness etc.).
May be one reason for this the complexity of the issues to deal. For this, the
strategies, approaches and systems versus existing systems and mechanisms as
well as capacity and structure of implementation require more investment.
Absence of locally
elected government bodies: The difficulty this posed to
nurture long-term relations with local government officials for WASH delivery
and advocacy was compounded by frequent changes of key officials at local and
central levels. It is necessary to strengthen and keep local government
officials responsive and accountable to local demands. Weakening of local
government and the lack of elected representative as a result of the internal
conflict further led to lack of local level capacity and resources to develop
and deliver effective services is a significant constraint in municipalities,
districts and villages. Because of this, the existing non-responsive and
non-accountability of the local bodes
resulted many actors, including NGOs and bi-lateral programmes, don’t engage
with Local Government and keep them informed of their plans and open their
programme up for external monitoring. This mandate was however made provisioned
in LSGA, 1997, but very less actors do follow the suit.
Less priority resulted
lack of coordination: Very less prominent actors are
on the scene in improving WASH access and for the WASH sector. In addition, local
governments’ interests are limited to only environmental sanitation and that
too for solid waste particularly landfill sites and drainages. INGOs/NGOs
involvement in WASH sector is very limited. Considering this, local government
now through the structure currently visualized by national sanitation and
hygiene master plan should make efforts that lead to stronger coordination for
coordinated work through joint efforts among sector stakeholders at their
respective levels.
Institutional
fragmentation, and limited sector coordination: Despite
published policies, an Interim Three Year Plan, the sector is characterised by
its diversity of sector institutions (several working in parallel with
overlapping responsibilities), and a project focus (with a range of modalities
of project implementation to some extent undermining each other). There has
been a tremendous growth in this sector with many actors, both government and
non-governmental, with varying in size and scope and are supported by diverse
funding streams, seeking to fill the gap in service delivery and
policy-practice fissure. Information on the sector is not collated, data is
unreliable and definitions are not consistent.
Besides, there exists a lack of
clear roles and responsibilities between different line agencies, specifically
Ministry of Local Development (MLD), Ministry of Physical Planning and Works
(MPPW) and Ministry of Health (MoH) and their respective Departments. In
addition, sector monitoring systems for accounting functional access and
linking services to financial allocations is still in infant stage. Information
on financial flows for sector decision-making exists neither at local nor at
national level. Although efforts in recent years to improve coordination in the
sector have resulted in the formulation of sector effectiveness improvement
unit (SEIU) to have effective sector coordination, and monitoring system in
place along with centrally owned MIS system.
Others:
§
Limited engagement of
the private sector with the sector and the capacity amongst the many NGOs is
uneven. The reform of urban institutions is proceeding slowly.
§
Globally small towns
are crack between Rural and Urban; But in Nepal ,
Urban WASH
2.
Objectives:
Aims: To
explore, as a WASH development actor, how WAN can best contribute to WASH
sector development by capacitating the development professional in WASH
discourse; develop projects and market them among the appropriate development
partners within or beyond WASH sector in Nepal.
Key Objectives: The
basic objective of this training is to provide basic WASH literacy and awareness
knowledge to the development professional primarily from beyond WASH sector to
enable them to contribute in WASH sector development by enhancing their
knowledge and understanding on WASH sector particularly in developing a WASH
project plan / proposal for any geographical area irrespective of size.
Specific Objectives:
§
To make the
participants understand the importance of WASH
§
To provide basic
technical know-how on the existing technological options to adopt and replicate
while delivering water and sanitation services in their respective working
areas
§
Understand the issues
and challenges, regarding ensuring sustainability and functionality of the WASH
services, to be addressed while delivering water, sanitation and hygiene
services
§
To build capacity of the
development professionals representing from different development agencies and
build mutual support networks across them
3.
Learning Outcomes
Day – I: Able
to gain:
§
Knowledge and
understand the importance of WASH
§
WASH sector
development trend including opportunities and challenges in the sector
development
§
Knowledge and
understanding on the policies, and plans; key gaps and key stakeholders related
to WASH for building networks and mutual supports
Day – II: Able to understand:
§
Basic technical
know-how on technological options for delivering water, and sanitation services
and promoting hygiene education
§
Process of promoting
hygiene education integration with water and sanitation and monitoring the
changes brought by
§
Understand
the process of declaring ODF of any geographical area and knowledge to combat
with the possible challenges
Day – III:
§
Understand
sustainability and functionality issues in WASH sector development
§
Sector Financing in Nepal
§
Acquire the knowledge
and skills in developing a credible and marketable comprehensive WASH project
proposal mainstreaming with local government’s planning process
§
Able to have insights
from cross experiences to understand and tackle the issues and challenges that
will be faced while initiating and declaring ODF districts/VDCs
A the end,
§
With backdrops of
understanding on WASH sector development trend in Nepal
§
A first version of training
handbook / manual is developed to be used as a reference resource for similar events.
4.
Target Participants:
The training is primarily focused
towards developing intellectual and professional capital in the WASH sector.
Hence, WaterAid in Nepal
·
DDC; Municipalities, (preferably planning
/technical officers)
·
ADDCN, and MUAN
·
NGOs/INGOs/CBOs
·
Private Sector/Corporate Sector
·
Academicians and school education stakeholders
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