Water is fundamental to health and well-being. For this reason, S M Sehgal Foundation promotes safe drinking water in rural communities by implementing Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) and Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) to address drinking water quality issues. In 2022, UNICEF reported that less than 50 percent of India’s population has access to safely managed drinking water. The lack of safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene practices stresses the urgent need for capacity building in the WASH sector.
Unsafe drinking water is a leading cause of waterborne diseases. To combat the issue, WASH implementers across governments, grassroots organizations, and others must be equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills to issues and apply appropriate simple and affordable household water treatment technologies, especially in an area with poor water quality and the lack of piped water supply. Supporting households with the knowledge to improve water quality through household water treatment will significantly increase access to safe water coverage and lead to WASH behavior change.
Recognizing the need, S M Sehgal Foundation (SMSF), in partnership with the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) in Canada, offers a comprehensive range of high-quality participatory training workshops and virtual courses, available both online and in person. These programs are customized to meet the specific local needs.
Key Training Topics
- Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) provides simple and affordable treatment technologies and safe water storage at the household level that are crucial for improving water quality in regions with poor water supply.
- Community WASH Promoter (CWP) training prepares individuals to become community leaders to influence households to overcome barriers and adopt healthy WASH behaviors.
- Introduction to Drinking Water Quality Testing (DWQT) participants learn about different methods of testing water quality, helping to identify and address contamination issues promptly.
- Biosand Filter training participants learn how to construct and install a biosand filter correctly, share experiences, and discuss challenges and opportunities to achieve sustainable implementation.
- Rainwater Harvesting participants learn how to construct rainwater harvesting systems for households.
- Delivering Effective WASH Training (DEWT) enhances the participatory skills of trainers, ensuring they can deliver impactful WASH training sessions to various audiences.
- Ceramic Pot Filter (CPF) training participants learn the production technology of ceramic pot filters and production process details and discuss challenges and opportunities.
- WASH in School participants learn to sensitize and build knowledge about the importance of WASH facilities and their correct usage to ensure the sustainability of WASH facilities in the school.
- Fluoride and Fluorosis Mitigation training participants learn to sensitize and build knowledge about how the prevalence and ingestion of fluoride cause fluorosis and about its management, mitigation, and prevention.
- Intermittent Slow Sand Filter for Institute/School participants learn to construct and correctly install the intermittent slow sand filter, share their experiences, and discuss challenges and opportunities for achieving sustainable implementation.
- Water Safety Plan participants develop comprehensive plans to learn and manage the risk to water supply.
Virtual Learning Programs
S M Sehgal Foundation offers two online virtual learning programs, providing an opportunity for those who are unable to attend in-person sessions. These programs cover topics such as Introduction to Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) and Getting Started with Drinking Water Quality Testing (DWQT) to ensure that knowledge is accessible.
By offering these diverse and high-quality training workshops and virtual learning programs, the SMSF and CAWST partnership is committed to empowering individual practitioners and organizations. The goal is to enhance the effectiveness of WASH and HWTS interventions to increase access to safe drinking water, foster behavioral change, and create a lasting impact on public health and well-being.
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