Professor Dr. Tanvir Ahmed, former Director of ITN-BUET, has been appointed as the Director of the Global Sanitation Graduate School (GSGS) South and South-East Asia (SSEA) Regional Hub. The GSGS program, hosted by IHE-Delft and supported by the Gates Foundation, has been the cornerstone of sanitation education all around the world, with 55 member-academic institutions, located in 22 countries. The GSGS supports M.Sc., Diploma, and short course programs in these institutions by integrating a standardized curriculum, which ensures a unified and high-quality framework for education.
In the next level of development, GSGS is clustering into five regional hubs, namely, 1. GSGS Regional Hub South America, 2. GSGS Regional Hub West, Central, and Indian Ocean Africa, 3. GSGS Regional Hub East and Southern Africa, 4. GSGS Regional Hub India, and 5. GSGS Regional Hub South and South-East Asia. The regional hubs are hosted by partners in Montevideo (UTEC), Ouagadougou (2iE), Kampala (NWSC), Ahmedabad (CEPT), and Bangkok (AIT), respectively. Prof. Dr Damir Brdjanovic of IHE-Delft, the founder of the GSGS, will remain the Global Director and will be coordinating the regionalization efforts. The main focus of the regional hubs is to a) update the current sanitation curriculum with the latest learnings on CWIS, b) expand the geographical coverage of its membership, c) diversify its membership to enhance the impact on the ground, and d) ensure financial sustainability in mid- and long-term.
The SSEA Regional hub was inaugurated during the regional workshop that took place in October 2024 in AIT, Bangkok, with the participation of all GSGS members and representatives of the Gates Foundation. The SSEA regional hub is envisioned as a collaborative platform to advance sanitation education and build capacity across Southeast and South Asia. Prof. Dr Tanvir Ahmed, a WASH expert and academician, will bring forth his experience in working in the WASH sector in Bangladesh and the region, to update the postgraduate GSGS program curriculum and work towards expanding the reach of the hub by encouraging more institutions in other countries within the region to join the program. Prof Ahmed will be responsible for liaising with the Regional Hub country offices, country representatives, regional partners, and members. He will lead the Hub in close consultation with the Hub host, the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).
