By Susan Davis, Executive Director
Recently, I was contacted by an organization that was looking for training materials for community water system management. Strong water service providers are important for sustainable services. They had contacted several WASH organizations, but weren’t able to find such materials. I shared with them what I have happened to collect in my files and thought I’d share them with you too. A couple of caveats: this is not intended to be a comprehensive list and I haven’t applied these training modules or evaluated whether they are successful.
Do you have a successful training program or manual for strengthening community water system management that you can share? Please let us know in the comments section below.
| Name of training | Topics | Target Audience | Related resources |
| Integrating Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene into Child Nutrition Programmes: A Resource Pack for Uganda (English, PDF, 8MB). USAID/WASHplus Project, 2014. Washington DC: FHI 360. | ·WASH practices in home ·Child nutrition ·Blocking Fecal Contamination ·Hand Washing ·Small Doable Actions ·Keeping Drinking Water Safe from Source to Mouth ·Water Treatment ·WASH and Food Hygiene |
Village health teams, community knowledge workers, peer support groups, and other outreach workers | ·Job Aids in Local Languages (Rufumbira) (pdf, 4MB) ·Job Aids in Local Languages (Rukiga) (pdf, 4MB) ·Job Aids (English) (pdf, 147KB) |
| How to roll out Sanitation Marketing Guide: Practitioners Training (Working Draft, Word, 2 MB). Eline Bakker, 21 October, 2013 (contact us for a copy) | ·Key concepts and elements of sanitation marketing ·Collaboration with the private sector ·Business model development tool ·Consumer behavior and demand creation ·How to best roll out sanitation marketing in your target area |
INGO and partner staff | |
| Training Guide for CLTS Facilitators (Uganda) (English, 12MB) 27 July 2011 | ·Background to CLTS ·Promoting CLTS |
Trainers, practitioners, managers and policy-makers | Several other resources for different countries available through this website |
| Training Manual on Hygiene and Sanitation Promotion and Community Mobilization for Volunteer Community Health Promoters (VCHP)/ Draft (English, PDF, 3MB) Amhara National Regional State Health Bureau | ·Introduction to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Key Practices ·Tools and Techniques for Changing Hygiene and Sanitation Behavior at the Household Level ·Tools and Techniques for Changing Hygiene and Sanitation ·Behavior at the Community Level |
Volunteer Community Health Promoters | MIKIKIR Card in Amharic (within PDF) |
| Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Poster Set with Trainer Guide (French), CAWST. October 2012, | ·Good WASH practices ·Household water treatment technologies ·Key messages and questions to check for understanding |
Community groups or individuals | |
| Procurement and Contract Management of Drilled Well Construction. A Guide for Supervisors and Project Managers (English, PDF, 1.26MB), Adekile, D. 2014, RWSN, Switzerland | Procurement and contract management procedures for engagement of professional groundwater consultants, drilling contractors and suppliers | Supervisors, project managers | ·Code of Practice for Cost Effective Boreholes ·Costing and Pricing – A Guide for Water Well Drilling Enterprises And several more |
| Project Implementation Manual (English, PDF, 5.3 MB). Community Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, Ghana, 2014. Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing. | ·Guidance in WASH project management and implementation ·Rules, procedures, and processes |
All stakeholders (at national, regional and district levels) involved in the provision of water and sanitation services in rural communities and small towns |
District Operational Manual (English, PDF, 6MB) |
| Guided Learning on Water and Sanitation (GLOWS): Learning about Community Water and Sanitation Assessments and Action Plans in Ethiopia (English, PDF 1.9 MB). COWASH, June 2014 | ·Community water supply in Ethiopia ·Water quality risk management ·Water supply improvement ·Sustainable multiple use water services ·Sanitation and hygiene ·Management and finance of WASH ·Process facilitation ·Community water and sanitation action planning ·Example of a comprehensive WASH assessment report |
Woreda (district government) staff | |
| RWSSHP Booklet 1 Community Organization (English, Word, 305KB). Ethiopia Ministry of Water Resources for the implementation of the Rural Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Program (RWSSHP) | ·How to Form water and sanitation committees ·Committee Tasks ·Community Action ·What Makes An Effective committee? ·How To Train Water and Sanitation Committees ·What To Do If Things Fall Apart? |
Community Facilitators working with water and sanitation committees | |
| RWSSHP Resource Booklet 2 Managing Money (English, PDF, 312KB). Ethiopia Ministry of Water Resources for the implementation of the Rural Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Program (RWSSHP) | ·Effective ways to collect and manage money ·Capital Contribution ·Maintenance Costs ·Spare Parts and Warranty ·Collecting Money ·Safekeeping & Record-keeping ·When Things Go Wrong |
Community and water and sanitation committees | |
| Training modules developed for Training of Trainers on SHAW performance monitoring (English, PDF, 2.4), IRC, 2013. | ·SHAW monitoring system ·Understanding the indicators ·Planning and organising monitoring ·Data collection techniques ·Village level data recapitulation ·Quality control ·Analysing monitoring data |
Trainers of local NGO partners’ monitoring staff | |
| Leadership, the Hidden Factor in Capacity Development: A West African Experience (English, PDF, 254KB). Brigitte Dia and Jan Willem Eggink, date unknown. SNV | ·Leading yourself ·Leading your organization ·Leading people and teams |
Established leaders – e.g., heads of municipalities or districts, heads of departments responsible for delivery of basic services, leaders of local civil society organizations and networks | |
| Capacity Building for local NGOs: A guidance manual for good practice (English, PDF, 1.4MB) Thomas, Lainie. 2005. CIIR/ICD | ·Organisational governance ·Leadership ·Strategic planning ·Managing finances ·Managing people ·Managing projects ·Office administration ·Publicity and fundraising |
Indigenous non-governmental and community-based organisations | |
| Organización y Participación Comunitaria: Manual del Facilitador [Organization and Community Participation: Trainer’s Manual] (Spanish, PDF, 22.7MB), CRS & Comité Central Proagua y Desarrollo Integral de Lempira, 2008 (contact us for a copy) | ·Organizational efficiency and quality ·Gender equity ·Community participation in decision-making ·Sustainability |
Community water and sanitation committees | Capacitación sobre Operación y Mantenimiento del Sistema de Agua [Training on Operation & Maintenance of Water Systems] (Spanish, PDF, 64MB) ·Capacitación Sobre Administación de Sistemas de Agua [Training on administration of water systems] (Spanish, PDF, 39MB] ·Capacitación Sobre Manejo y Mantenimiento de las Micro Cuencas [Training on Management and Maintenance of Watersheds] (Spanish, PDF, 27MB] (contact us for copies) |
Other resources for training materials include:
CAWST has resources for community education, material developers, project implementers, and trainers, including picture posters and activities for Africa, Caribbean, Latin America, South Asia, South East Asia, and South West Asia. Many of their resources are translated into French and Spanish, and some materials in other languages such as Creole and Swahili.
RWSN has resources in English and French under these themes: accelerating self-supply, sustainable groundwater development, equality, non-discrimination and inclusion, sustainable services, and mapping and monitoring.
Susan Davis 
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