Quality management for decentralised wastewater treatment systems: supporting Laos government partners

In 2013 the Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Department of Housing and Urban Planning (MPWT/DHUP) and BORDA signed the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), promoting improved sanitation leading to economic, environmental, health and social progress in Laos. BORDA Laos is working under the framework of a cooperation agreement with the MPWT/DHUP for the period 2016-2018.

Urban Wastewater Management: Supporting the Lao Government

As part of the cooperation, BORDA supports the Lao Government in a variety of ways including:

• developing a concept for urban wastewater management which will also provide a framework for national and international donors in the wastewater sector,
• introducing a DEWATS quality management system (QMS) to strengthen institutional capacities of both central and local government partners in the area of urban wastewater management, and
• joining DEWATS project implementations countrywide and integrating them with urban development projects.

Capacity Development

Capacity development trainings do not solely consist of lectures, but also include a large number of on-the-job trainings. Since DEWATS QMS is conducted on three different levels, BORDA is training authority staff in successive stages: Assistant Project Engineer (APE), Project Engineer (PE), and Senior Project Engineer (SPE). As of the end of 2017, 36 APEs and 3 PEs with representatives from all 18 Lao provinces have been trained. Occasional on-the-job trainings are ongoing, as BORDA Laos plans to continuously increase the number of trained staff.

Providing further foundation for future capacity development, BORDA Laos developed a DEWATS Knowledge Transfer manual as a guide to applying DEWATS implementations nationwide.

BORDA Las also supports other partners with technical and social approaches according to their needs.