Training Programme on Preparation of Excreta / ShitFlow Diagram (SFD) for Sanitation Master Planning in South Africa

  

Language of Discourse – English

Centre for Science and Environment’s Water Team, successfully organized a series of Training Programmes on “Preparation of Shit Flow Diagrams for Sanitation Master Planning” in South Africa. The trainings were organized in association with the local partners Water Research Commission (WRC) and Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), South Africa. The trainings were conducted in 4 batches from 6^th Feb to 16^th Feb 2023. Three batches were focused on Preparation for SFD and one batch was focusedon Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM).

Training on Preparation of SFD (6-7 Feb Batch-1; 8-9 Feb Batch-2; 13-14 Feb Batch-4)

SFD preparation training was given in two days per batch. The day 1 of the training started with an introduction session from DWS. This session was taken by Ms. Iris Mathye, Director Sanitation Operational and Capacity Support at the DWS. After the introductory session a room mapping exercise was conducted by CSE team to introduce the participants with each other and with facilitators. Following this session a presentation to introduce CSE and set the context of the training, was given by Mr. Depinder Singh Kapur, training Director. Further to this presentation a session to bring understanding of SFDs journey and experience in South Africa was presented by Dr Sudhir Pillay, Research Manager at WRC.

After these the core SFD sessions were conducted which were taken by CSE team. Harsh Yadava from CSE team took these sessions which majorly focused on need of SFDs, what SFD really mean and what it does not mean; the ways to interpret an SFD followed by a group discussion on case studies of SFDs in India and Africa. In the second half of the day 1 a session on SFD methodology to collect data on field and making sense of collected data by data analysis and triangulation was given. To understand the data analysis better a case example to describe the calculation of wastewater and septage generation on a hypothetical data was explained to the participants. The final session of the day was on SFD terms and variables in which participants were exposed to different terms used in SFD graphic and report. The day ended by online feedback session and a quiz by using Socrative, an online platform to conduct quizzes and polls.

Day 2 started with a reflection on day 1in which participants were given chance to clarify any doubts from day 1 by giving learnings of day 1. The day 2 of the training focused on SFD graphic generator, SFD reports and review process of SFDs. SFD graphic generator was demonstrated on SuSanA SFD portal. An SFD graphic was generated by running the graphic generator andfeeding hypotheticalgenerated during data calculation exercise on day 1. The participants were further explained how to save the SFD graphic, matrix and JASON files.

After the SFD Graphic Generator the major part of day was consumed in doing the “Do it Yourself” (DIY) exercise. In DIY exercise the participants were divided into groups of four and a reading on hypothetical cities based in a hypothetical country was given to the participants to prepare an SFD of their respective city. It was followed by group presentations of SFD graphic where participants were supposed describe SFD graphic, assumptions made during SFD graphic generation and suggestions for sanitation status improvement in the city. Participants were seen curious and actively involved in the DIY group exercise. It was great to see that almost every group was able to generate the SFD graphic by end of day 2. The group that performed best in DIY were given prizes and a few prizes in some different categories were also given to encourage the participants.

After the DIY exercise,a sessionwas given on types of SFD reports and SFD review process to publish the SFD reports. It was followed by online feedback and day 2 quiz using Socrative online platform. The training was ended after certificates distribution and closing remarks by the Director DWS. 

Orientation training on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (10^th Feb Batch-3)

The training started with an introductory session followed by the presentation by Mr Depinder Singh Kapur (Director, Water Programme, CSE) on FSSM policy and guidelines highlighting different missions and programs in India. Further, a detailed session describing basic fundamentals of sanitation and its linkages with environmental health was deliveredby Mr. Jyoti Parasd. This session was followed by two technical sessions on different Onsite Sanitation Systems and FSSM technologies were delivered to equip participants with the knowledge of planning aspects and treatment solutions.

Later, the participants were given with a role play exercise “FSM Game” in which they were assigned to certain roles. Participants were divided into two groups and asked to discuss on the given case study and propose certain solutions against the given budget. Post exercise, each group presented their exercise.  The training ended-up with a presentation by Mr. Jay Bhagwan from WRC followed by certificate distribution and feedback. 

We have received 360 degree good feedback from participants in terms of content,methodology, organization of the training, time management, and group exercises.

 

Training Directors
Depinder Singh Kapur Director, Water Programme Centre for Science and Environment, India Email: dkapur@cseindia.org	Jay Bhagwan Executive Manager: Water Use and Waste Management Water Research Commission, South Africa Email: sudhirp@wrc.org.za
Training Coordinators
Harsh Yadava Senior Research Associate, Urban Water Centre for Science and Environment, India Email: harsh.yadava@cseindia.org	Dr Sudhir Pillay Research Manager: Sanitation Water Research Commission, South Africa Email: sudhirp@wrc.org.za