Developing sustainable water sector capacity in Laos

World Water Academy is working with World Waternet and Lao partners to strengthen the capacity of the country’s drinking water sector. Together, we are developing a capacity-building programme for the Provincial Nam Papas, the utilities responsible for drinking water services across Laos.

The programme is part of an Asian Development Bank (ADB) project implemented by Ramboll. To ensure that the training programme reflects local needs and priorities, a joint team recently visited the provinces of Xaysomboun and Xiengkhouang. During the visit, the team visited water treatment plants to meet with management teams, operators and other stakeholders. These discussions provided valuable insights into the day-to-day challenges faced by the utilities and the knowledge and skills needed to address these.

For World Water Academy, understanding the daily practice of water professionals is an essential part of effective training design. Rather than developing courses behind a desk, we believe effective training programmes are created together with the end users.

The insights gathered during the field visits are therefore being used to design practical training programmes that reflect the reality of daily practice and can be applied directly in the workplace.

This autumn, the first training programmes on Non-Revenue Water and Asset Management will be delivered. Training programmes on Financial Management and Leadership will follow at a later stage. Alongside these courses, Lao professionals will be trained to become trainers themselves. By establishing a pool of Lao trainers, the project aims to ensure that knowledge and expertise remain available within Laos long after the project has been completed.

The field visit marked an important step in the development of the training programme. As the project moves into its next phase, we look forward to continuing our collaboration with World Waternet and our Lao partners to strengthen knowledge, skills and training capacity within the Lao drinking water sector.