ITN-BUET organized a regional Training of Trainers on IPC and Health Hygiene of Sanitation and Waste Workers with government officials and sector actors from Bangladesh and Nepal. ENPHO, a renowned national NGO of Nepal was the co-organizer of the training event. The two-day long training session was held through the virtual platform zoom on 7-8 December 2020.
The training focused on improving personal health and hygiene practice among the sanitation & waste workers. It also emphasized on mitigating the gap between information and practice on personal health and hygiene practice among these service providers. The interactive and participatory approach throughout the training helped to make the training an interesting one.
A total of 18 professionals from Bangladesh and Nepal joined this ToT program as participants. Officials from ENPHO, Eco-Concern, DWSSN, FWSSMP & Nepal Municipalities joined in this ToT program. Also, from Bangladesh, officials from academic institute, CWIS-FSM support cell, WaterAid, DPHE and ITN-BUET participated in the training. Md. Imtiaz Sharif, Makfie Farah and Saleema Najenin Siddiqua of ITN-BUET facilitated the training program.
“Our effort will be worthwhile if we can deliver this material where it is needed and make an impact on the situation of the workers.”
Dr. Tanvir Ahmed, Director of ITN-BUET, welcomed the participants at the inaugural session of the training. He said, “Our effort will be worthwhile if we can deliver this material where it is needed and make an impact on the situation of the workers.” Ms. Bhawana Sharma, Director of ENPHO said “While we are working towards the advancement of FSM and many other development projects, we often forget the key player of this sector”. She recommended joining hands of ITN-BUET and ENPHO and added this would help both the country strive and learn from each other.
“This is a very important and relevant initiative in current times of Covid-19,” -said Ms. Neelima Thota, Sr. Advisor, BMGF. She added that this training would benefit all the participants significantly.
At the end of the training session, there was an extensive discussion session among the participants focusing on the contextualization of the training and training need assessment for Nepal. Participants’ also shared their feedback on the training and expressed eagerness for future collaborative activities.
On the closing session, the certificates of the master trainers were virtually handed over to the participants by the designated guests. Mr. Kabindra Bikram Karki, Chief of National WSS Training Centre of DWSS, thanked the participants and said this training would add to Nepal’s effort to improve the workers’ miserable condition in a new normal situation. Ms. Laxmi Sharma, Sr Project Officer of ADB applauded the trainers’ active participation and emphasized on taking the initiative forward. Ms. Neelima Thota, Sr. Adviser of BMGF, was also present in the closing session. She stressed on implementing the training at the grass-root level through the collective effort of ITN-BUET & ENPHO. The training session was concluded with vote of thanks from Dr. Tanvir Ahmed, Director of ITN-BUET.
