WASH fundamentals, taught with CAWST in Istanbul

Water, sanitation and hygiene decide how many people survive a displacement crisis
— and the staff asked to deliver it are often not WASH specialists. On 19 and 20
August, CHI ran a two-day introduction at its Istanbul office to close that gap,
delivered in partnership with CAWST, the Centre for Affordable Water and
Sanitation Technology.

The training was led by Yasir Çığıl and Dr. Ra'ed Abu Hayyaneh, and built
for practitioners moving into WASH roles from other parts of a response. No prior
WASH background was assumed.

Two days, six hours each, split along the sector's own fault line. The first day
stayed on water: where it comes from in an emergency, how quality is assessed and
interpreted, and how it gets treated when infrastructure is gone. CAWST's work on
household water treatment and safe storage anchored the practical sessions — an
approach built for exactly the conditions where centralised systems cannot be
relied on.

The second day moved to sanitation and hygiene. Which sanitation options hold up
under field constraints, how excreta management is handled when space and materials
are short, and why hygiene promotion succeeds or fails on community engagement
rather than on hardware.

Places were capped deliberately. A group small enough that everyone works through
the exercises is worth more than a full room watching slides — particularly for
material that only becomes useful when you have handled it yourself.

WASH joins standards, protection and leadership on CHI's training calendar. If
there is a programme your team needs and it isn't running yet, tell us — the
calendar is built from what practitioners ask for.