WaterAid, World Bank Group and UNICEF logos.

About the course

Making water, sanitation and hygiene services available to everyone is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, yet we are not on track to meet the SDG 6 goals. To accelerate progress, WASH practitioners, including national and local governments, water and sanitation utilities, public and private service providers, regulators, NGOs and community organizations, must understand and tackle the barriers that prevent vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities, from accessing WASH services and contributing to the development process.

Through this introductory online course, learners will:

  • Increase their knowledge and understanding of persons with disabilities, disability-inclusive WASH.

  • Understand the barriers that persons with disabilities are facing to access WASH services and products, and how to identify and address these barriers.

  • Learn how to design, implement, monitor and evaluate disability-inclusive WASH programmes in development or humanitarian contexts.


This course has been produced with financial support from the Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership Trust Fund.

Audience

This introductory course is open to a global audience, especially WASH practitioners and decision makers (governments, utilities, NGOs, service providers, UNICEF, WaterAid and the World Bank Group staff) working in development, fragile and conflict-affected states or humanitarian contexts.

Length

Approximately 120 minutes.

Methodology

This introductory course on disability-inclusive WASH will present relevant concepts, tools and mechanisms that WASH practitioners can use to ensure WASH programmes, services and facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities in development and humanitarian contexts.

The first six modules will present content in a variety of formats; they include interactive elements, accessible animated videos and interviews with WASH actors, and knowledge checks at the end of each module to self-assess your understanding. The last module is divided into two parts; the first part offers an overview of the course, questions for reflection and the next steps. The second part is a final quiz, with an 80 per cent passing score.

Navigating the modules as presented is recommended but not required. You may complete modules in the order of your preference and at your own pace.

Structure

The course is composed of six interactive modules and a final quiz: 

  1. Introduction to disability-inclusive WASH.
  2. Meaningful participation of persons with disabilities.
  3. Identifying and tackling barriers faced by persons with disabilities.
  4. Accessibility to WASH services and products.
  5. Empowerment, capacity-building and partnerships.
  6. Disability data collection, monitoring and reporting.
  7. Reflecting and taking actions; and final quiz.

Accessibility

The interactive modules in this course support screen reader, keyboard and touchscreen navigation. For instructions on navigating modules, see the navigation help section available at the beginning of each module.

Contact details

Content issues and questions: Bisi Agberemi, bagberemi@unicef.org; Kamila Galeza, kkasprzycka@worldbank.org, Farzana Ahmed, farzanaahmed@wateraid.org