Training in water and sanitation for development and emergencies

"The trainers were really WATSAN experts, very well organized and exceptionally dedicated. The training provided me with the skills I needed to better manage and to provide technical support to our implementing partners." USAID participant, June 2010

"The CDs and resource materials are wonderful and will help me with my work long after the course is finished. Your training course is a great contribution to capacity building of watsan professionals". Oxfam participant, September 2007

"The course was great and the breadth of knowledge of the BushProof staff was impressive. I am definitely better equipped to deal with the design, implementation and monitoring of a watsan programme than I was prior to the course. Both rookies and long-term development workers would find something of value here." Unicef participant, August 2006

Next course dates:

 22 Nov - 4 Dec 2010                   Singapore
 TBC  Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Take a look at some video clips and photos from our training in Madagascar.

Download information about the courses here: 

Madagascar course overview (662 Kb)

Singapore course overview (489 Kb)

Follow this link for details about booking procedures and application forms.    

Overview

The BushProof Water & Sanitation for Development & Emergencies training is a broad, intense 12-day course with a heavy practical bias, providing a rare opportunity to learn through both theoretical and hands-on practical sessions (refer to course documents above for details). Our aim is to transfer as much practical and theoretical knowledge as possible in the time available so that participants can return with know-how that they can apply in their own situations.

The training is invaluable for both those who need more technical input for their work, as well as for those in management who find they have become more and more involved in water programmes, but lack the basic technical and theoretical background.

Applicants can now attend for the whole training or part of it, according to their areas of interest.

Practical sessions

The training is intense and is given through a range of practical and theoretical sessions. While several theoretical courses are available, practical hands-on field experience is difficult to obtain. The BushProof training therefore focuses heavily on practical sessions, which include the following and vary slightly according to the training location:

  • Construction of hand-dug well in local village, including final pump installation (Madagascar only)
  • Manual drilling
  • Jetting
  • Sieve analysis
  • Measuring elevation
  • Measuring water flow in pipes due to gravity and from pump
  • Handpump operation
  • Chlorine and alum jar tests
  • Community mapping in a village (Madagascar only)
  • Biosand filter construction
  • Latrine slab construction (normal, dome)
  • Making an emergency latrine shelter (Singapore only)
  • Water testing (chemical, physical, bacteriological)

Participants are expected to get involved with all practical sessions and should expect to get dirty!

Theoretical sessions

In addition to the practical sessions, the course will provide a broad overview of the theoretical aspects of water and sanitation projects. Theoretical issues are linked to real life experiences of the facilitators throughout the course.

Teacher-student ratio

We will never have more than 15 participants per course, and therefore have a high teacher-student ratio, which we find is essential to allow individual feedback and tuition.

Language

The course will be in English. For the training in Madagascar, francophone participants can be accommodated if they have a reasonable grasp of spoken English since at least one BushProof course facilitator will speak French.

Course fees & duration

The duration of the course is 13 days (with 12 days taught). Applicants can attend for the whole training or part of it, according to their areas of interest. Course fees are shown below:

Attendance up to 6 taught days 1,300 Euro
Attendance up to 12 days 2,400 Euro

 Note:

  • Any organization booking 5 (full) places can get a 6th place for free.

  • We need a minimum attendance of a certain number of full-paying applicants to make the course viable, otherwise we will have to cancel the course. Our cut-off date will be 1 month prior to the course start date – so please confirm with us prior to paying for international flights.
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 The course fee includes:

  • Tuition, handouts, resource CDs, coffee breaks, lunch on training days and field visits.

The course fee does not include the following:

  • International & domestic airfares, travel or medical insurance, visa, accommodation, breakfast / evening meal and taxi cost from the accommodation to the training centre every day.

An information guide including hotel information will be sent to all applicants. This allows participants to choose and organize their own accommodation and includes telephone and email contacts. BushProof will help participants if they are really having difficulties arranging things, but note that we are primarily a training organization, not a logistical one.