Building capacity to support operationalization
Building capacity to support operationalization
Building stakeholder capacity is an essential pillar for developing treated wastewater reuse systems that are safe, sustainable, and adapted to local territories. Mastering the risks associated with REUSE requires skills that enable understanding the entire reuse chain, identifying exposure situations, selecting appropriate management measures, and organizing their implementation in a coordinated manner.
With this in mind, COSTEA is developing a regional training program dedicated to REUSE in partnership with the AFD’s Adapt’Action program, with a particular focus on the multi-barrier approach and the management of health and environmental risks.
This program aims to strengthen the skills of public institutions, managers, agricultural stakeholders, and training professionals to support the design and implementation of REUSE schemes adapted to the institutional, regulatory, and territorial contexts of the countries involved.
In a context of increasing scarcity of conventional resources, treated wastewater reuse constitutes a strategic resource for securing certain water uses, particularly in agriculture. However, its development implies rigorous control of health and environmental risks as well as close coordination between the various stakeholders involved in the reuse chain.
Health safety is addressed at the scale of the entire system: wastewater treatment, storage, transport, irrigation practices, crop choices, working conditions, handling of agricultural products, and consumer exposure. This systemic approach leads to combining several risk reduction measures according to the characteristics of each situation.
The multi-barrier approach, promoted notably by the World Health Organization, provides a framework for designing this combination of measures. Barriers can relate to water treatment, irrigation techniques, agricultural practices, the organization of uses, or measures applied after harvest. Their association makes it possible to achieve health protection objectives while taking into account the uses, the exposed populations, and the specific characteristics of each territory.
COSTEA’s training sessions thus contribute to developing a common culture of risk management between the water, sanitation, agriculture, health, environment, and training sectors. They also promote the adoption of methods that translate REUSE principles into operational systems adapted to national and local realities.
With the support of the Adapt’Action program, COSTEA is developing a regional training course based on action learning, the analysis of concrete situations, and the exchange of experiences between professionals.
The associated pedagogical system includes:
The pedagogy is based on participatory methods and the mobilization of participants’ professional knowledge. The diversity of profiles represented (public administrations, agricultural stakeholders, managers, researchers, and training professionals) constitutes a resource for comparing approaches, analyzing implementation constraints, and collectively developing adapted responses.
Tunisia
November 2025
The first COSTEA regional training dedicated to the multi-barrier approach was held in Monastir, Tunisia, in November 2025.
It brought together participants from several countries representing complementary profiles: institutional officials, agricultural project stakeholders, and training professionals. The program combined the use of the AMBRE serious game, scientific and methodological contributions, exchanges of experience, and a visit to the Ouardanine perimeter irrigated by treated wastewater.
This first session also made it possible to test and capitalize on a pedagogical approach intended to be adapted and deployed in other national contexts.
Jordan
September 2026
A second session is organized in Jordan in September 2026, with the support of the Adapt’Action program. It is part of a logic of transferring and adapting the approach developed in Tunisia to the characteristics of REUSE in Jordan. The situations studied, the stakeholders mobilized, and the risk management measures are thus defined based on the Jordanian institutional, regulatory, agricultural, and territorial context.
Morocco
2027
This stage aims to gradually build a network of trainers and resource persons capable of deploying the approach within their institutions, supporting new national sessions, and contributing to the dissemination of best practices in REUSE-related risk management.
The training program is part of a perspective of capitalization and regional cooperation. Networking among participants, training of trainers, sharing of pedagogical resources, and the capitalization of experiences should promote the emergence of a regional community of practice around REUSE.
The objective is to consolidate the links between scientific knowledge, operational experience, training, and public decision-making, and to gradually support the integration of risk management into national strategies and systems for treated wastewater reuse.