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The WASH Systems Academy

The WASH Systems Academy

The learning platform for water, sanitation and hygiene systems strengthening

Advocating for universal WASH services

Course objectives: This course is full of examples of advocacy for universal water, sanitation and hygiene services. By the end of the course, you will have created parts of a draft strategy to kick off or refresh your advocacy activities. For those wanting to know more on the main water, sanitation and hygiene challenges and their root causes, there is an extra optional session 'WASH services for all'. After completing this course, you will know:

  • What advocacy is
  • Ways to start advocating for strong WASH systems
  • How to start monitoring progress in achieving your advocacy goals
  • The role of advocacy in WASH system strengthening

Course content: This course includes podcasts by WASH advocacy professionals, animations, graphics, videos, reading short texts about key concepts and multiple-choice tests. There is also the opportunity to connect with other WASH sector professionals through online forum discussions.

The majority of this course is also available offline. You can download the complete session texts, including all the exercises, via the course resources tab. This allows you to follow part of the course offline. However, you will need to connect to the online platform to participate in the forum discussions, upload the materials you create and complete the multiple-choice tests and quizzes

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Session overview: This course has eight sessions which take an average of one hour per session to complete. Complete all the sessions in consecutive order:

  • Session 1: Introducing advocacy
  • Session 2: Getting started with advocacy
  • Session 3: Defining your goal
  • Session 4: Selecting the target audience
  • Session 5: Strengths, limitations & partnerships
  • Session 6: Advocacy activities
  • Session 7: Crafting messages
  • Session 8: Reflect and adapt
  • Extra session: WASH services for all

Length: On average, the course takes a minimum of 8 hours to complete.

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