Sanitation is a key element of sustainable development that is rather overlooked in WASH sector. Constructed water systems have not been sustainable without complementary sanitation technologies and practices. Influencing people’s health and wellbeing, Oxfam worldwide has made considerable efforts to promote improved sanitation by providing accessible knowledge and guidance how to achieve basic sanitation standards, including in rural areas.
Oxfam, as one of the leading organizations promoting technology-driven WASH in Tajikistan, under the ‘Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation’ (TaJWSS) project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), developed a theory of change that would now be described as ‘convening and brokering’ sanitation importance in all the country.
To further address the issue and at higher professional levels, under the mentioned project Oxfam successfully partnered with the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) on translation of the Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies into Russian language for the first time in its history for dissemination, reference and technical utilization wider in the regions where Russian is widely spoken.
Subsequently, on February 28 to March 1, Oxfam convened government and donor institutions, Eawag specialists, representatives of private and civil society sectors to participate in a two days technical training session on ‘Compendium of sanitation Systems and Technologies’ in Dushanbe city.
According to Oxfam Tajikistan, the ‘Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies is designed to be used as a tool for relevant institutions to develop work plans and improve professional skills on sanitation and waste management, enable its users to make more informed and well thought decisions through application of variety of methods and technologies. The compendium has been translated into Russian language for the first time and that will give opportunities to local engineers, ecologists, even market players to get a better understanding about the modern sanitation standards and solutions for improving sanitation facilities in urban as well as in rural areas.
As mentioned above, the given training is being held within the ‘Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation’ project involving key actors together to view countries’ current sanitation situation, its challenges and ways to address them using presented solutions models from the Compendium.
As for Oxfam, the Compendium will be used to design cost effective sanitation facilities that are relevant and affordable for rural communities to replicate at household levels.
At present, the Compendium is available in Russian language. It is determined to make it available in Tajik language and distribute to all actors involved in water and sanitation sector.
