Announcement for Lecturers

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in collaboration with CEWAS, Switzerland (Coaching Entrepreneurs in Water and Sanitation) and Wayamba University of Sri Lanka have developed a curriculum on “Developing Businesses in Resource Recovery and Reuse” suitable basically for post graduate degree programmes. We are pleased to offer an exclusive opportunity for lecturers from engineering, agriculture and business disciplines to get to know the new university curriculum in a workshop.

This programme includes a two-day introduction for lecturers and a one-week intensive summer school for students that will be given by the lecturers themselves with the support of CEWAS and IWMI. This will be held in IWMI headquarters at Pelawatta, Battaramulla from 19-20^th July 2018 (for lecturers) and 23-27^th July 2018 for students (lecturers will conduct lectures on their specialities). The Introduction to the curriculum and detailed programme is given below.

Lecturers (government or private sector) who are interested on this curriculum are invited for this workshop. The participants are required to fill and submit the on-line form along with a CV (visit https://sites.google.com/wyb.ac.lk/db3r or www.wyb.ac.lk or www.iwmi.cgiar.org) until 7^th June 2018. You may contact Dr. WJSK Weerakkody (0714401041; weera@wyb.ac.lk) or Dr. Miriam Otoo (m.otoo@cgiar.org ) for more details.

Introduction to the Curriculum

Humans generate millions of tons of waste every day. This waste is rich in water, nutrients, energy, and organic compounds. Yet waste is often not managed in a way that permits to derive value from its reuse. At the same time millions of farmers struggle with depleted soils and lack of water. Resource recovery and reuse (RRR) can create livelihoods, enhance food security, support green economies, reduce waste and contribute to cost recovery in the sanitation chain.

While many RRR projects fully depend on subsidies and hardly survive their pilot phase, hopeful signs of viable approaches to RRR are emerging around the globe including in low- and middle-income countries. These enterprises or projects are tapping into entrepreneurial initiatives and public-private partnerships (PPPs), leveraging private capital to help realize commercial or social value, shifting the focus from treatment for waste disposal to treatment of waste as a valuable resource for safe reuse.

Proposed university curriculum on “Developing Businesses in Re-source Recovery and Reuse” will enable engineering, business and agriculture students to:

• identify business opportunities for resource recovery and reuse across the waste and sanitation sectors,
• develop a RRR business model,
• study the feasibility of RRR business models by analysing legal, institutional, technological, logistical, health and financial aspects and related risks,
• define strategic positioning, financing and action plans for the implementation of RRR business models.

The curriculum was developed by researchers at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and business development experts at cewas (coaching entrepreneurs in water and sanitation). The modules draw on innovative business models examples from the IWMI publication Resource Recovery from Waste. Business Models for Energy, Nutrient and Water Reuse in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. The rich compendium of business options for energy, nutrients and water recovery is based on an in-depth analysis of over 70 empirical cases, of which 47 from around the world are described and evaluated in a systematic way in the publication. The focus is on organic municipal, agro-industrial and food waste, wastewater and faecal sludge, supporting a diverse range of business models with potential for large-scale out- and up-scaling.