ITN-BUET, a centre for water supply and waste management of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was established in 1996 with a vision to achieve a strong, capable human resource base for sustainable development of water supply and environmental sanitation. ITN-BUET believes that knowledge development through applied research and professional development program constitutes the foundation for human capacity building. ITN-BUET with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to be established as Capacity Building Hub (CB-Hub) for selected countries in South and Southeast Asia, such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Indonesia, on CWIS and FSM to ensure safe, inclusive, and sustainable sanitation. The CB-Hub targets building the capacities of strategically identified and relevant stakeholders to promote the CWIS concept across South Asia and beyond, focusing on FSM in association with regional partners (technical universities, I/NGOs, and training institutes). The functional areas include but are not limited to capacity building, policy advocacy, action research, technology evaluation, IEC/BCC preparation, gender mainstreaming, verifying models, evidence generation, and dissemination for scale-up. In Nepal, ITN-BUET is collaborating with Environment & Public Health Organization (ENPHO) to address capacity building initiatives. ENPHO is being established as a resource agency to build and strengthen the capacity of government officials and decision-makers to implement FSM/CWIS at municipal level and supporting ITN-BUET to achieve the targets of the CB-Hub in the regional and international aspects.
To complement capacity building initiatives, the CB-Hub requires to document evidence and disseminate knowledge on best practices. For this purpose, the CB-Hub focuses to develop a digital knowledge and learning platform/repository in coordination with national and regional partners. The learning platform will focus on CWIS, FSM based on field experiences that cover governance, guidelines for technical design, operations and monitoring for containment structures, desludging & transport and treatment processes including innovative technologies like RT and OP, ISO standards for safe and efficient infrastructure, gender and social inclusion in sanitation planning and services, disaster and climate-resilient sanitation, occupational health and safety protocols, environmental surveillance protocols, business plan and models, service models, taxation, tariff structure, for capacity building of government and city officials. Local, regional, and international CB-Hub partners are expected to regularly share knowledge products through the platform. Furthermore, the platform will attract and deepen the engagement with a wide variety of audiences and stakeholders, including national stakeholders, development partners, professionals, media, and businesses and entrepreneurs.