1. Capacity Building Initiatives

Both short and long term courses with a focus on water supply and harvesting, sanitation, hygiene, integrated water resource management, climate change adoptation and environmental aspects would be conducted at the Institute. The Institute would organise both in-campus and off-campus courses. The institute will have tie-up with other training / academic institutes and agencies involved in conducting capacity building initiatives across the region through off-campus mode.

Focus on the middle level professionals both from Government and NGO sector will be given prime importance. The courses offered by the WASH Institute will also be focussing on the needs of professionals and students who are not be able to participate in the courses offered by premier institutions such as WEDC or any other universities in abroad due to financial and other constraints. The formal courses would be designed in such a way that the trained people are employed by the Government, NGOs/ INGOs and private sector so that there is continuous demand for the courses offered by the WASH Institute and its partners.

2. • Action Research & Studies

Action research and field level studies would help the Institute continuously update its course curriculum and also it would help the institute to focus both formal and non-formal courses on the current and emerging issues on the ground. Action research and field level studies / experiments will be conducted through collaborative partnerships with the organisations working at the grass roots for developing cost effective low-cost solutions on the water and sanitation services. Student research projects / thesis would also be focussing on these aspects to provide adequate focus and importance.

3. Knowledge Sharing Initiatives

Knowledge sharing and advocacy activities would be taken up as one of the important tools to promote capacity building initiatives across the region including producing appropriate publications, both in print and electronic form, for information sharing. Advocacy initiatives of the Institute would especially focuses on capacity building aspects, to influence other training and academic institutions across the region to incorporate water, sanitation and hygiene module in their regular curriculum. Developing appropriate training modules on various aspects and sharing these with other institutions along with orientation to the faculty for handling these modules would help in wider replication.

4. Advocacy Initiatives

The advocacy initiatives of the Institute would aim to highlight various issues related to water and environment sector. The initiative would highlight various issues, potential solutions, and mitigation measures to be taken up. These will be backed up by appropriate publications and explanatory notes prepared based on studies and reviews conducted on various issues concerning the sector. The Institute would play key role in the forums such as WES-Net, WSSCC, GWA, Cap-Net, etc., The Institute staff would also involve themselves in various forums and committees formed by the national and state governments apart from those formed by INGOs/NGOs. Participation in seminars, workshops and meetings conducted at National and International level and presentation of papers would be a regular and ongoing activity towards promoting the best practices.