WASH Technical Top-up Project Microlearning Tools for Humanitarian Practitioners

The project will include the development and dissemination of a series of microlearning tools on four to five subject areas where there are gaps in WASH capacity and on-the-job behavior. These tools will be designed to result in action: knowledge transfer, behavior change, and implementation, better equipping humanitarian practitioners to improve water and sanitation service delivery for disaster-affected populations. The first phase of the WASH Technical Top-Up involved conducting a needs assessment to identify the most urgent gaps in WASH performance that can be effectively addressed through microlearning, WASH content currently offered through online learning and existing content gaps, existing modalities and gaps in online learning options serving the humanitarian sector, and the specific groups of humanitarian actors to whom microlearning should be targeted. The needs assessment included a desktop scan of 62 websites with WASH learning tools, interviews with WASH Actors from various organizations, an online survey completed by 220 WASH Actors, and analysis and presentation of findings. The desktop scan identified 62 websites with online learning resources, but the study was not exhaustive, and searches for resources were primarily conducted in English. As a result, some WASH learning resources were missed, and much of the online learning for the sector happens on internal servers and learning management systems not searchable to the public. The study only includes resources that were publicly searchable. General observations from searching for resources were that many of the resources were difficult to find, buried on the fourth or fifth page of a Google search, and unlikely to be discovered by the common user. There is an overwhelming amount of content, and a novice would have difficulty choosing key words to narrow their search for appropriate learning resources. The online survey was developed and hosted on SurveyGizmo and was made available in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic. Invitations to participate in the survey were sent directly to more than 12,000 individuals and organizations working in the WASH and Humanitarian sectors. Key informants interviewed for the needs assessment distributed the survey link. The survey aimed to strengthen the understanding of how WASH practitioners access online learning and what topics they are interested in knowing more about. The survey results showed that the target audience for the WASH Technical Top-up should be low to middle-level national staff, including WASH managers, WASH Technicians, and middle managers who may or may not have a WASH background. The analysis of data from the desktop scan, interviews, and survey clearly indicate that the contents of the technical top-up should focus on strengthening core WASH concepts in the areas of water quality testing and monitoring, water treatment, sanitation, and behavior change. The interviews and survey identified a lengthy list of potential content areas within each of these topics. Further work will now be required to shortlist these content areas. The survey results also showed that there are few resources currently available to troubleshoot specific WASH challenges, opportunities for online learning outside of full-length courses are limited, and the majority of options available are only in English. Finding relevant information in a timely manner is also extremely challenging.