POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN WATER SANITATION AND HYGIENE

POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN WATER SANITATION AND HYGIENE

Course overview

Statistically, an estimated 1.2 billion people globally are not able to access safe clean drinking water, whereas 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation. According to a report by WHO (2005), approximately 1.6 million people die annually from cholera and diarrhea. In developing countries, 90% are children below five years’ account for the above figures.

The high mortality rates are due to lack of awareness on the effects of poor hygiene and sanitation due to faeco-oral diseases amongst children due to lack of training and inadequate approaches by the professionals in the sector.

Inadequate knowledge and awareness on the effect of poor sanitation and hygiene are a major area of concern highlighted in various evaluations that were conducted between 2004 and 2007 including the Output to Purpose Review (OPR) of DFID. This course aims to put into consideration all the scholarly work done in the modules in order to combine all the Hygiene and Sanitation promotion learning materials to develop a quality manual that can be used to improve hygiene and Sanitation behavior in order to achieve program objectives.

The course has ten modules and at the end of every module there is an assignment. After ten assignments, learners are expected to write a research paper with guidance from an online moderator and then an examination done online on the twelfth month. The learner has contact with the moderator through the e-learning platform where there are chats and can even ask for a skype chat with the moderator to have any issues of concern addressed.

Learning objectives

At the end of the course the learner should be able to;

• Have a critical understanding of sanitation, water and hygiene interventions and of the ways in which such projects can impact on health in low income settings;
• Point out the principal pitfalls in health impact measurement, and suggest appropriate alternatives;
• Discuss the wider social, economic, institutional and environmental contexts of water, hygiene and sanitation strategies;
• Appraise the existing evidence for the effectiveness of water, hygiene and sanitation interventions;
• Have a basic understanding of the principles of behavior change in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector and the pros/cons of alternative ways to measure behavior change outcomes;
• Have a basic understanding of the WASH products and services options available and the factors which guide choice of hardware;
• Have a critical appreciation of the importance of behavior change communications and demand promotion/creation strategies tailored to the target population in the planning, implementation and evaluation of water, hygiene and sanitation interventions;
• Apply this understanding to the design, evaluation and critique of such projects.
• Contribute to the development of different approaches to the provision of sustainable and equitable WASH services in developing countries