How do you build the skills needed to operate a wastewater treatment plant – and make sure that the knowledge reaches beyond the people who take part in the initial training programme?
This was the focus of the Operation of Wastewater Treatment Plants course, organised by Danida Fellowship Centre in collaboration with Ferskvandscentret Silkeborg, Danish water utilities and technical consultants.
The programme brought together 25 participants from South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Ukraine and Colombia. They came with different professional backgrounds and, collectively, more than 200 years of experience working with water and wastewater. The training combined technical capacity building with a Training of Trainers (ToT) approach, with the aim of enabling participants to share their knowledge when they returned to their workplaces.
An important part of the course was the technical training led by experienced professionals from the Danish water sector. Participants worked with both theoretical and practical aspects of wastewater treatment and contributed their own experiences from different contexts.
Read more on LinkedIn about the start of the training
A central part of the programme was the opportunity to see wastewater treatment in practice. Participants visited and spent time at Danish wastewater treatment plants, working alongside Danish colleagues and getting first-hand insight into how the plants were operated.
The internships took place at
These visits gave participants an opportunity to connect the technical training with daily operations and to exchange experience with colleagues working in the Danish water sector.
See more on LinkedIn from the training and site visits
The second equally important part of the programme focused on what would happen after the participants returned home. Through the Training of Trainers component, participants worked with tools for developing and delivering training, as well as project and change management. They also developed individual action plans for how they would use and share their new knowledge in their own organisations.
The aim was therefore not only to strengthen the skills of the 25 participants, but also to enable them to pass on what they had learned to colleagues and contribute to change in their workplaces.
After 13 intensive days, the Denmark-based part of the programme was completed on 14 August. Participants returned home with new technical knowledge, practical experience from Danish wastewater treatment plants and plans for how to put their learning into use.
Read more on LinkedIn about the final days of the programme
