Capacity Building

For the overall sustainability of the water supply and sanitation services, appropriate knowledge and skills are necessary among the stakeholders. Therefore, NEWAH prioritizes transferring knowledge and skills to local stakeholders through various capacity-building activities. Consequently, it organizes skill-based training, facilitation, and orientation for the following committees and individuals playing crucial roles in a sustainable WASH system (“Clean and Healthy Community”):

-          Water and Sanitation Users’ Committee (WSUC) on various issues related to the pre-construction, construction and post-construction stages of a water supply system such that they are able to plan, co-finance, manage, monitor, and sustainably operate and maintain the systems.

-          Ward WASH Coordination Committee (W-WASH-CC) on design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of WASH activities at ward level, and the Sanitation and Hygiene Master Plan and the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach for ODF and post-ODF support

-          Community Health and Sanitation Volunteer (CHSV) on community-level hygiene and sanitation promotion and ‘clean and healthy community.’

-          Male and female caretakers on operation and maintenance of the constructed water supply systems. The skill-based training focuses on technical aspects of O&M such as HDPE pipe joining, preparing fittings, threading GI pipes and joining fittings with other pipes. They are also trained in collecting tariffs based on water usage and keeping the tariff and expenses in a financial ledger.

-          School WASH Committee on promotion and management of hygiene and sanitation activities within the school. Additionally, teachers trained to teach the best hygiene and sanitation practices using fun and interactive techniques.

-          Community Child Health Group (CCHG) on various hygiene and sanitation-related issues with an aim to spread awareness among children of a similar age group and adults in their home and community.

-          Child Health Awareness Committee (CHAC) on health and hygiene-related issues to bring about sustainable health and hygiene-related behavioral changes among students, primarily girl students in their teens and pre-teens.

-          Social mobilization and awareness-raising are equally key components of NEWAH’s capacity-building programs. It organizes cluster-based education and WASH campaigns to create public awareness and bring sustainable behavior change, particularly in areas related to latrine use, handwashing at critical times and household waste management. Triggering campaigns are also regularly organized in the project areas to generate awareness as well as celebrate different national and international WASH events. NEWAH’s project staff provide regular backstopping to the community in all matters related to WASH and project sustainability.

Using its rich experience within the sector, NEWAH has also been providing advisory services to both Governmental and non-Governmental agencies on matters related to management and technical aspects of WASH project planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.