IRC announces launch of academy on WASH systems
Later this year, non-governmental organisation IRC Wash will launch an academy to help professionals with the implementation and strengthening of a system approach for the delivery of drinking water and sanitation. Participants of the WASH Systems Academy can take a free basic online course and follow an additional training course to become a WASH service master.
Service delivery
Pumps break, but resilient systems keep the water flowing. This is the motto of non-governmental organisation IRC Wash that has a strategic focus on the service delivery of drinking water and sanitation.
The academy's aim is to stimulate people to start a career as expert on WASH systems or senior practitioner to better understand what a systems strengthening approach entails and how to integrate it in the daily work. This free online course will be available from August 2019.
Interactive platform
The WASH Systems Academy is intended to be an interactive platform, providing courses that can be followed on a mobile phone, through an app, or on a computer.
The academy will engage WASH-workers to share views and experiences in all courses. The course entails 10 sessions and ends with a multiple-choice test and a digital certificate if successfully concluded.
All systems go
IRC has taken the lead on the introduction of a systematic approach for the delivery of drinking water and sanitation. In March it organised the international conference All Systems go! In The Hague, the Netherlands, that welcomed participants representing over 165 organisations and institutions from around the world.
IRC acknowledges that delivering sustainable WASH services is a complex undertaking as it requires a different mind-set. It breaks with the traditional short term development aid to do only one single WASH-project.
A systematic approach is a long term commitment that looks after an effective maintenance of rural water points, monitoring of the water quality, introduction of tariffs to be able to pay for repairs, and help local governments to do better planning.
