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Sanitation refers to facilities and services for safe disposal of human urine and faeces. Only 3.9 million people (10 per cent) connect to a sewer in Kenya. Because of this low number of Kenyans using sewer has led the government to increase focus on onsite sanitation. This is collecting and treating excreta at the place it is made. MSc Sanitation course targets onsite sanitation.
Meru University of Science and Technology is looking for students to study Master of Science in Sanitation. This class of September 2020 will be the second. The first class took 45 students.
To teach this course, Meru University is working with Global Sanitation Graduate School, based in the Netherlands. Global Sanitation Graduate School shares new course materials on non-sewered sanitation with universities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
A student will take one year and a half to complete the course. They will learn online and face-to-face. By the end of the course they will have modern knowledge on all areas of sanitation.
The course is looking for sanitation professionals working in water and sewerage firms, government, non-government firms and consulting firms.
What is in the course?
Teachers and sanitation workers advised on how to design the course. The course covers the following.
- Introduction to sanitation
- Sanitation systems and services
- Public health and sanitation
- Analysis of sanitation flows
- Sanitation technology
- Sanitation financing
- Behaviour change and advocacy
- Water, sanitation and health [Wash] in emergencies
- Leadership and management in sanitation
- Sanitation governance
- Project planning and management
- Teamwork skill development
- Research methods for sanitation
- Advanced research statistics
- Research theory and practice (thesis).
Who can join the course?
Student must have a Bachelor’s or equivalent degree in public health, community health, environmental sciences, microbiology, biological sciences, chemistry or biochemistry, civil engineering, agricultural engineering, agriculture or health sciences.
How do I apply?
By filling in an application form at the university’s Meru town campus. Or download the application form from the university’s website.
Applicant must pay Sh1,500 application fee, which is not refundable. They must pay this fee to the university’s bank account or by a banker’s cheque.
We must stop thinking that human excreta must be thrown away as far as possible; or that a toilet must be connected to sewer system. – Sanitation Research Centre, Meru University.
What more are they doing?
Meru University has opened Sanitation Research Centre at Meru campus to create and help new ideas on sanitation. The centre gives these ideas to the society.
The centre looks for ways to safely clear human waste. This is because connecting to sewer is low.
Safe sanitation needs new thinking. This new thinking is moving away from ‘sanitation dogma.’ The two are, first, human excreta must be thrown away as far as possible. Second, a toilet must be connected to sewer system.
