Government of Bangladesh is determined to achieve the Sanitation SDG target. To ensure access to adequate and affordable sanitation services through appropriate systems, City Wide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) has evolved as a new agenda. Considering the need of CWIS & FSM, International Training Network (ITN) Centre of BUET in collaboration with DPHE organized a four-day Training on “Fecal Sludge Management: An element of City-Wide Inclusive Sanitation”. Representatives from six paurashavas under 23-Towns Project and 32-Towns Project of DPHE participated in the course. The paurashavas were: Sreepur, Raipura, Godagari, Benapole, Basurhat and Betagi Paurashava. There were total 24 participants consisted of management and administrative officials, engineers and health, family planning and conservancy division and associated engineers from DPHE. The training was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) under the national capacity building project.
Mr. Md. Wazed Ali, Project Director, 23 Paurashavas Project, DPHE; Mr. Nazrul Islam Mia, Project Director, 32 Paurashavas Project, DPHE were presented as guests and Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Ali, Director, ITN-BUET was the chair of the inaugural session. Mr. Md. Wazed Ali emphasized on the importance of FSM to ensure safely managed sanitation and achieve SDG 6 agenda. Mr. Nazrul Islam Mia hoped that regular capacity building events will help the paurashavas to run the system properly after the project implementation.
The participants learned about their specific roles, stakeholder analysis, technological options, necessary financial, hardware and software requirements, gender and social inclusion in sanitation, social awareness and challenges for implementing FSM in their respective towns. CWIS approach and the entire value chain of FSM was explained to the participants through various interactive sessions and real-life examples. The training included a field visit at Lakhsmipur Paurashava, where the treatment mechanisms used for the treatment of sludge and remaining waste water at the plant were demonstrated. The sessions were facilitated by Master Trainers who attended the ToT Mr. Alauddin Ahmed, Ms. Makfie Farah, Mr. Rakib Uddin Ahmed and Mr. Mohammad Imtiaz Sharif of ITN-BUET, Mr. Habibur Rahman from WSUP and Ms. Sharmishtha Debnath, Ms. Tasnim Tamanna and Mr. Fahim Hasan Sirajee of DPHE.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Ali, Director of ITN-BUET admired the enthusiasm of the participants and hope that this training will encourage them to take practical actions in their respective paurashavas. Mr. Md. Monirul Islam, Mayor of Godagari Paurashava and Mr. Amzad Hossain, Panel Mayor Mr. of Sreepur Paurashava were present in closing ceremony where the participants received their certificates. In his speech, Mr. Md. Monirul Islam hoped that the Paurashava officials will work based on their action plan and he committed to provide all kind of support. Mr. Amzad Hossain said that he would take necessary actions to engage all the officials of his paurashava to achieve the SDG 6.2 target. The training ended with the commitments of the participants to apply their knowledge in practical fields.
