IOWater - International News

49 Information: Tel.: +33 5 55 11 47 70 - E-mail: cnfme@oieau.fr Agence Française de Développement Vocational training requirements for water stakeholders As part of its activities in the water and sanitation sector, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) works with bene- ficiary countries to improve access, quality and sustainability of services, while ensuring improved management of water in an envi- ronment increasingly subject to the impacts of climate change. To reach these objectives, AFD’s main priori- ty is to strengthen national and local gover­ nance to ensure long-term technical and financial management in the sector and to accompany its partners beyond the projects it finances. To this end, and to have a significant impact on the sector’s development, AFD is involved in financing projects that meet with the (initial and continuous) vocational training require- ments of all stakeholders in the field (water services, engineering firms, public services, private sector, etc.) at different levels of com- petency (operators, technicians, engineers, top managers, etc.). This involves a variety of innovative means (training centres attached to operators, inde- pendent centres, training services, training programmes, etc.) whose sustainability can be assured (transparent, effective governance framework, balanced economic model, etc.). With a concern to consolidate the “capacity building” side of its work, AFD asked IOWater to carry out a study to give a general over- view of vocational training needs in the water supply and waste water sanitation sector in the countries that AFD operates in. The aim of this study is to put together an operational “tool kit” so that AFD can identify vocational training projects centred on satis- fying the sector’s economic demand. The study carried out by IOWater included the following components: l Concise overview of the water supply and sanitation sector and key issues. l Human resource issues in the water sup- ply and sanitation sector (trades, quali- ficative and quantitative needs). l Human resource training in the water supply and sanitation sector (vocational training issues, priority training, funding of vocational training, governance of vocational training measures). l Recommendations for investing in voca- tional training (potential vocational trai­ ning projects). l Development of case studies in three geographic areas (South Africa, Morocco, Haiti). 4 Occitanie Regional Health Authority / Adour-Garonne Water Agency “Good practices to obtain quality water” As part of its multi-annual contract of targets and means with the French ministry of health, in 2018 the Occitanie regional health autho­ rity (ARS) asked IOWater to carry out training sessions on good practices to obtain qua­ lity water. The course was aimed at elected representatives and territorial agents at small local authorities in the Occitanie region. The objective of ARS Occitanie is to continue improving the quality of water on the whole of its territory. This training programme was co-funded by the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, which shares a territory with ARS Occitanie. An awareness-raising programme for opera- tors, focused on the training course, was set up by IOWater. The training programme follows on from courses carried out successfully by IOWater for over 1,500 elected representatives and territorial agents since 2012 on the territo- ries of the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, the Rhin-Meuse Water Agency and ARS PACA. The training sessions were intentionally desi­ gned to last one day so that a maximum number of people could attend. They were also organized at local level (dépar- tement) to limit the transportation required. The one-day courses focused on action that can be put in place to monitor water quality and facilities. The aim of the action is to guarantee quality water at all points on the network based on a number of good practices that range from protecting catchment zones to maintaining installations and cleaning reservoirs, with an accent on the importance of disinfecting and follow-up. Following a first theoretical part, a visit was organised to a catchment site equipped with a protection fence and a water treatment plant. The combination of theory with a practical visit and analyses of treated water provided concrete and practical input for each of these training sessions. 4 Europe - France The News N° 29 Visit to a water catchment site TRAINING AT IOWATER