On 17 November 2016, at the Thủ Dầu Một Wastewater Treatment Plant (BIWASE), Binh Dương province, Mr Cao Lai Quang, Chairman of the Vietnam Water Supply and Sewerage Association (VWSA) and Dr Horst Sommer, Programme Director of the Vietnamese-German technical cooperation Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam (GIZ) awarded the certificate to 11 in-company trainers, which certifies them as Trainers for Sewage Engineering of VWSA. The ceremony took place with the participation of representatives of the General Directorate of Vocational Training (GDVT), of the management boards of five wastewater companies in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Khanh Hoa, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Can Tho as well as of the Ho Chi Minh Vocational College of Technology (HVCT).

The need for sector-specific short-term training for technical workers, who are working in sewage companies but have not been professionally qualified in sewage engineering, has considerably increased in recent years. VWSA, as agreed by its member companies, is the central institution, which provides high quality short-term training programmes based on the actual needs of companies. In order to enhance the capacity and ensure the quality of the short-term training programmes, VWSA receives 11 new in-company trainers qualified by the Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam to its training staff.

Since 2014, within the field of activity ‘TVET for Skilled Workers in Wastewater Sector’, these 11 in-companies trainers from the above mentioned companies have attended 10 further training sessions on sewage engineering organised in Viet Nam and Germany. During these training sessions, they consolidated their professional knowledge and acquired pedagogical skills under the guidance of experienced German and Vietnamese experts. Currently, they are the core training staff of the pilot cooperative training programme ‘Sewage Engineering Technicians’ jointly implemented by HVCT and their companies. With the new duty, they will effectively support VWSA in developing and providing short-term training courses in the near future.

Moreover, the training contents of short-term courses are developed based on the modules of the 3-year cooperative vocational training programme ‘Sewage Engineering Technicians’, which was successfully developed oriented on the German standard by VWSA, HVCT and five wastewater companies with the consultation of German experts. The short-term courses will be tailor-made or adjusted to match the requirements of the companies.

‘Technical and operational workforce is the heart of every wastewater company. We consider capacity development for our employees a strategic task and we are ready to invest in these activities. We hope that the further training sessions provided by VWSA will help us develop a skilled workforce with solid fundamental knowledge and working skills specifically required by the wastewater sector’, Mr Nguyễn Văn Thiền, Chairman of the Boards, Binh Duong Water – Environment JSC., shared after the ceremony.

In 2017, the field of activity ‘TVET for Skilled Worker in Wastewater Sector’ will keep supporting VWSA on piloting a number of short-term training sessions for technical workers of wastewater companies.