Capacity building for ecological sanitation : concepts for ecologically sustainable sanitation in formal and continuing education

This publication deals with educational aspects and guidelines linked to ecosan capacity building. It constitutes a means of providing educational tools, upgrading existing ones, and suggesting revised teaching plans. The concept behind ecological sanitation (ecosan) is that sanitation problems could be solved more sustainable and efficiently if the resources contained in excreta and wastewater were recovered and used rather than discharged into the water bodies and the surrounding environment. The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals related to sanitation is one of the major challenges for sustainable development in the next decade. Putting emphasis on education and research for ecologically sustainable sanitation may largely contribute to reaching this goal. The publication includes chapters on ecological sanitation as the new sanitation paradigm; capacity building, knowledge management, and research and development for sustainable sanitation. The annexes include examples of workshop contents, curricula outlines and an awareness raising presentation.