Key Information
About the content
This course will examine current conditions and trends in water and sanitation services in low and middle income countries. Within it we will take a critical look at the underlying political, economic, social, and technical reasons why almost a billion people lack access to improved water supplies and almost 2 billion still do not have improved sanitation services.
Syllabus
- Week 1: Introduction – Current patterns and future trends in coverage of both network infrastructure and non-piped solutions in urban and rural areas of the low and middle income countries
- Week 2: Political Economy – Water markets, water vending systems, corruption
- Week 3: Supply – Technological options available and the associated costs of providing improved water and sanitation services
- Week 4: Demand – Understanding household water and sanitation behavior
- Week 5: Outcomes and climate change
- Week 6: Water Development Paths
Instructors
- Duncan Thomas - Manchester Business School
- Dale Whittington - Manchester Business School
Content Designer
Platform
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
Coursera works with top universities and organizations to make some of their courses available online, and offers courses in many subjects, including: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects.
Excellent course full of really interesting and useful information. A real eye opener, I have worked in the Watson field for 20yrs but not been aware of the more over-arching aspects/drivers to the industry. Fascinating and I would highly recommend.
A very good introduction to global WASH policy and many of the key issues and how to think about them. If I have one criticism is that the UK-stuff seems (which is also very interesting) seems like a forced marriage with the earlier content: I wonder how transferable the lessons learned from centuries of water and sanitation development in London can be usefully transferred to other contexts. Perhaps only to manage the expectations of what is realistically possible in accelerating or leap-frogging the development of water & sanitation services in modern cities in low and middle income countries.
Excellent course full of really interesting and useful information. A real eye opener, I have worked in the Watson field for 20yrs but not been aware of the more over-arching aspects/drivers to the industry. Fascinating and I would highly recommend.
Great lectures from Professors Dale and Duncan. Good use of graphs and photos in the videos to vary the media. Also, great choices for examples, extra reading and external videos. This is an ideal introductory course for anyone interested in diving into this sector.
Useful and interesting topics about real developing countries issues. I really enjoyed the way to evaluate colleagues in a participative manner. I also appreciated the flexibility to finalize sessions after their deadline because we all have other commitments so sometimes it is hard to do it on time.
Visual aids need improvement and should help in emphasizing the lesson. Instructor needs to be more dynamic, instead of reading off the telemprompter. But all in all, it provided an introduction to how the water utility works. This course is recommended for beginners in the water industry.