Grade Level: College Level
Subject: Environmental Resource Management
Duration: 1 week (1 Lesion per day)
Objective: This course aims to train students pursuing environmental engineering, environment management, public health, civil engineering, and environmental science about the impact of water sanitation and empower them with the necessary skills and knowledge for a more sustainable future.
Learning Expectation
- Explain the relationships that exist between portable water, sanitation, and health.
- Understand the role of culture in the design and development of community-based water projects.
- Classify good and bad practices associated with water, sanitation, and hygiene and their impact on health.
Summary
Water and sanitation are important aspects of global prosperity. Safe drinking water and safe disposal of wastewater are critical as they can aid in attaining global peace and development and improve health and resilience. Continuous supply of clean water to the communities, access to sanitation facilities, and hygiene practices are equally important in improving people’s living conditions as it is a source of livelihood, thus making the community resilient.
Safe and reliable clean water is a basic human right recognized by most countries through their constitutions as it is embedded in the Bill of Rights. International organizations such as the United Nations have also identified the importance of clean water as an essential aspect of sustainable development goals (Mustafa et al., 2022). Despite the recognition of the various bodies and governments, the water sector is still challenged by inadequate skilled professionals, climate change, increased conflict, and global pandemics, which denies people the opportunity to access safe drinking water and sanitation services (Bishoge 2021, 900). Clean drinking water is pivotal to achieving global health goals and advances in water provision programs.
This course imparts learners with knowledge and skills to help them solve water sanitation challenges. It is expected that through the knowledge from the students, they will be able to identify potential clean drinking water sources for the communities they support. They will conduct field surveys to take inventory of the existing water systems. Students will also be able to assess the water infrastructure in their communities. Based on a thorough assessment, they will recommend investment in capital and other resources to ensure continuous access to clean water. These steps will help improve the quality of life for the identified communities.
Lesson 1: Introduction to Water Sanitation
Objective: To introduce students to the concept of water sanitation
- The first objective is understanding the significance of clean water and sanitation in everyday life.
- The teacher will define water sanitation and explore the components of clean water and effective wastewater management.
- The teacher will introduce statistical references about clean water and sanitation facilities.
Lesion 2: Global Water Sanitation Issues
Objective: This lesson will enable students to investigate global challenges in dealing with inadequate clean water supply and sanitation issues and provide possible solutions.
- Learners will access case studies that entail water sanitation issues.
- The instructor will put the students into groups and assign the groups different case studies. In these groups, the students will evaluate the case studies and identify challenges in the water supply for the case studies.
- The students will present reports on their case study analysis.
- Both students and the instructor will discuss the best technologies while proposing solutions to the identified challenges.
Lesion 3: Developing an Action Plan
Objective: This lesson aims to enable the student to develop the necessary skills that will allow them to take necessary and possible action to solve water and sanitation-related problems.
- Students will be asked to form small groups.
- Each group in the class will have a water sanitation issue, such as a lack of access to clean water or pollution of streams.
- With the help of the instructor, students will develop practical plans of action on how to provide and implement a solution to the challenges. The plan may be in the form of research or partnership ventures.
- Students are urged to develop innovative plans that engender collaboration among all community stakeholders.
Assessment
- Students will be assessed through group discussions and written reflection to determine their understanding of the course.
- Students will be required to prepare a written action plan and also assess their commitment to implementing it.
- Students will be sent to the community-based organization for field attachment to assess their ability to apply the lessons learned from the course.
Resources
- Textbooks, videos, documentaries, and articles about water sanitation and hygiene
- Invite guest speakers on the issue of water sanitation and hygiene.
Personal Reflection
Water has been identified as a scarce resource in various parts of the world. This occurs due to issues such as the increase in population and the impacts of climate change. In July 2010, in an attempt to solve the problem, the United Nations declared Water and Sanitation a Human Right (Van den Berge et al. 2020, 48). In an attempt to approach water and sanitation issues, it is critical to consider the cultural perspectives of the affected communities (Mishra et al. 2021, 490).
Therefore, while developing the lesson plan to train future leaders in the sector, I considered various theoretical frameworks such as utopianism, anthropocentrism, and cultural perspectives. This was important as I aim to champion a vision that aims to build a global water management future that is inclusive and sensitive to various cultures. This water and sanitation lesson plan has incorporated various cultural perspectives to ensure it is all-inclusive and suitable for people from different cultural backgrounds.
In the lesson, I considered the issue of cultural awareness in formulating the plan. Cultural awareness of an individual can be identified when one can recognize and appreciate other people’s customs, beliefs, and values and freely interact with them without prejudice (Aririguzoh 2022, 5). While addressing the issues of water and sanitation, an engineer or any other person involved needs to be culturally sensitive. The people involved in the planning and implementation of the water projects need to be culturally informed. Thus, they are able to uphold the rights and the dignity of the community involved. By doing so, the community feels involved and provides indigenous knowledge to the team, which is often valuable, resulting in the development of sustainable systems. This is because the unique community needs are considered through this approach, thus promoting equity in access to water and sanitation services.
Our lesson plan has considered this aspect by introducing students to various case studies from different areas around the world. This is targeted to enable the student to understand how cultures affect water and sanitation management. For instance, in some cultures, water is considered sacred, while in other communities’ water does not hold sacred significance; however, water management issues have a deep root in communal participation (Emile et al. 2022, 2). Through these case studies, the learners taking the course will be able to appreciate how cultures play a major role in water and sanitation management. Apart from the case studies, I have also included inviting community leaders, especially those in water management. This will give students first-hand information about culture’s role in water and sanitation issues.
I have also embedded theoretical frameworks such as utopianism and anthropocentrism in the lesson plan. Utopianism is a term used to describe an idea that aims to build a utopian society. A utopian society can be defined as a hypothetical society that does not exist in real life (characterized as perfect).
Utopianism is characterized by its ability to encourage independent thinking without fear of the external world (Potu et al. 2021, 13). I have managed to use this theory to develop the content of this lesson plan to promote free thinking in the development of the water and sanitation sector. For instance, this lesson has applied this theory by encouraging students to participate in group discussions where they are encouraged to brainstorm and come up with solutions that can help solve water-related challenges. This enables the students to have a wider imagination of a potential future where the global population can access clean water based on the utopian vision of an equitable world.
Anthropocentrism was equivalently applied to this lesion plan. This theory holds that humans are separate and superior to nature. It further asserts that human life has an intrinsic value while other entities are considered a resource that can be justifiably exploited for the existence of humans (Carlier and Nicolas 2020, 113).
The lesson plan I developed focuses on the issue of water sanitation from an anthropocentric point of view. This approach is intended to help students understand the interplay of human activities and social factors in water sanitation. Learning through case studies opens students to elements of global cooperation, cultural differences, and geographical complexities determining access to water sanitation facilities. Through keen analysis, students will also learn the impact of human activities on the environment.
Ultimately, this lesson plan aims to prepare students to apply their knowledge to develop a world free of water access challenges. The course content evokes proven theories illuminating the cultural dynamics impacting water issues. As part of the community, the students will also begin to view the world beyond their surroundings. Ultimately, the students will be able to improve water use and drive access to clean water while advocating for sustainable water use.
References
Aririguzoh, Stella. 2022. “Communication Competencies, Culture and SDGs: Effective processes to cross-cultural communication.” Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 9 (1): 1-11. Web.
Bishoge, Obadia Kyetuza. 2021. “Challenges Facing Sustainable Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Achievement in Urban Areas in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Local Environment 26 (7): 893-907. Web.
Mishra, Binaya Kumar, Pankaj Kumar, Chitresh Saraswat, Shamik Chakraborty, and Arjun Gautam. 2021. “Water Security in A Changing Environment: Concept, Challenges and Solutions.” Water 13(4): 490. Web.
Mustafa, Sohaib, Khalid Jamil, Lifu Zhang, and Mengisti Berihu Girmay. 2022. “Does Public Awareness Matter to Achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water for Everyone?” Journal of Environmental and Public Health 2022. Web.
Potu, Marsela Fledisti, Fivy A. Andries, and Imelda Lolowang. 2021. “Utopianism in Wilde’s The Happy Prince.” SoCul: International Journal of Research in Social Cultural Issues 1 (4): 13-13. Web.
Van den Berge, Jerry, Rutgerd Boelens, and Jeroen Vos. 2020. “How the European Citizens’ Initiative’Water and Sanitation is a Human Right!’Changed EU Discourse on Water Services Provision.” Utrecht Law. Review. 16(2): 48. Web.