Evaluation of education and training in water and sanitation technology: case studies in Nepal and Peru

A significant constraint to effective and sustainable water and sanitation provision is the “lack of capacity at the local level” (WHO, 2010), however there is uncertainty in how the efforts of capacity builders should be measured, and improved (Brown, et al., 2001). The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) and the Institute of Non-profit Studies at Mount Royal University (MRU) has collaborated to address this issue. An evaluative framework, based on the Kirkpatrick model (Kirkpatrick, D.L. & Kirkpatrick, J.D., 2006) was developed to assist capacity builders in the water and sanitation sector to capture and interpret the results of their education and training activities. The framework was applied to evaluate CAWST’s training activities in Peru and Nepal. The findings provide new perspectives on the impacts of CAWST’s work, and provide insight into how the framework can be valuable to other capacity building organizations.