Water and sanitation in developing countries: OiEau trains WASH practitioners

OiEau has included a dedicated WASH training course in its Training Centre catalogue, providing an introduction to the technologies and specific features of drinking water and sanitation in developing countries, and identifying the key points of a water and sanitation development project.

This course is aimed primarily at professionals who are new to EPAH - beginners or from another field, for example - or experienced professionals in the drinking water and sanitation sector who do not have experience in developing countries.

One of the strengths of this course is that it is based on technical aspects and realities in the field. For example, it covers basic chlorination techniques, home water treatment, human-powered pumps, latrine models, sludge management techniques, hygiene promotion and the community approach.

Aquassistance is the international solidarity association for active and retired employees of the SUEZ Group. Since 1994, Aquassistance has been making the skills of its volunteers and equipment available to support projects around the world. It provides assistance to vulnerable populations in the fields of water, sanitation and waste management, both in development aid projects and in emergency situations.

Let's find out what three participants from different backgrounds have to say about this training course.

Aquassistance works on access to water, sanitation and waste management in emerging countries, in post-disaster emergencies and also on development aid for universal access to water.

I am Managing Director of Aquassistance but also a director of OiEau, where I represent the SUEZ group. That's how I got to know you internally.When one of my managers in the team, who was new to the job, wanted training in water, we had the OiEau training catalogue, and I discovered the "Water & Sanitation Hygiene in Southern Countries" course. This course had never been given before, due to a lack of participants.

I came with my whole team, which made it possible to open the course.For trainees who are familiar with the sector, this training provides a refresher course, which is always good. For the more novice trainees, it's basic training.The opportunity made the thief. And then there's the pleasure of spending a few days in Limoges, which makes a nice change from the Paris region!

There are currently requests for capacity building in these areas, not only in the technical aspects, but also in setting up and managing services, operating and maintaining the service, etc. Needs are coming from our contracting authorities, small private operators, local and emerging, but also from ministries, regional water delegations and so on.
And in this respect, we are involved, pro bono, with our knowledgeable volunteers, who have had long careers in the SUEZ group, in a number of training sessions.
At a time when some countries are moving towards professionalisation in the water sector, there is room for professionals like OiEau to step up the range of capacity-building programmes for professional operators.
Indeed, after the creation of village management committees, which is the first stage, we can already see the second stage taking shape, with the emergence of local private or public operators, who need to be professionalised at all levels.
Organisations such as OiEau can contribute to this professionalisation of the sector, with perhaps more structured courses, as part of major assistance programmes that receive funding from international donors.

I've been a member of Aquassistance for 7 years and a volunteer for two years. I have a technical background, as an engineer in the design and monitoring of water and sanitation equipment.

My objective in taking part in this training course was to deepen my knowledge of water and sanitation techniques in emerging countries, to acquire feedback and best practices. I'm familiar with the conventional system, but the systems we have to deploy in these countries are completely different.

Is this training what you were looking for?

We covered the "Drinking water" part, which I know quite well, particularly the conventional techniques. As for the techniques we need to deploy in these countries, it was more of a review of what we've already practised, in Madagascar for example. With a few concrete examples that Olivier, the trainer, was able to share with us from his past experience.

As for the "Sanitation" part, which I'm less familiar with (even though I have a university grounding in the conventional aspects), the management of sanitation in these countries, such as latrines, is a new discovery.

I'm very lucky to be here: I've known OiEau for decades, it's a benchmark. One of our employees, new to Aquassistance, asked for a general training course. Our manager, Mr Folliasson, had the idea of involving the whole permanent team in an OiEau training course. The members of the team all have the opportunity to take this training course. It's an opportunity to get together and do a bit of team building. We also visited one of our volunteers, based in the region, who works in the waste sector. Because Aquassistance also has a "waste management" section among its areas of action.

What does this training bring to you as non-technical staff?

As Philippe Folliasson said, we also organise our own training courses, run by volunteers for volunteers. This OiEau training course actually combines several of our training courses: hydraulics, sanitation, hygiene and health, management committees, water resources... It's comprehensive, with a different perspective.