In majority of the low & medium income countries, inadequate solid waste management (SWM) system is the reason for air, water & soil pollution and serious public health impacts (Kaza et al., 2018). The waste management service providers to meet the growing demand and work effectively requires skilled manpower which is not adequately available. Based on personal ground experiences of Dr. Weichgrebe and ISAH research team in India, a lack of operational and management skills is identified and verified as one of the key cause of failure of SWM projects in India. To meet this knowledge/skill gap, it is pertinent to integrate waste as a subject in formal academic education or vocational educational & training (VET) programs in India. Moreover, new concepts like integrated waste management, circular economy and zero waste are becoming increasingly relevant with rising consumerism and scarcity of natural resources.

Therefore, ISAH, in collaboration with its industry and research partners, aims to develop an International certificate course for circular economy and waste management for developing countries, starting from India. The course will include latest technical knowledge catering to market requirements and use a pedagogy based on blended learning, combining both digital and practice oriented learning. Moreover, the course design will be modular to enable stage wise, continuous improvement in qualifications of stakeholders. This will enable stakeholders to play an active and effective role in MSW sector.

As the total jobs in MSW sector are projected to almost triple from 2.11 million (2011) to 6.45 million (2030) (SKGJ, 2016), this course will enable to meet the necessary quality of skill demand in MSW sector in India.

The course will cater to skill requirements of diverse range of stakeholders as it has three short module catering to Beginners, Intermediate & Professional level.

-   The beginner level is targeted at Fresh Graduates from field of environment and natural science background or

-   The Intermediate level is targetted at waste practitioners, plant operators, plant engineers or super-visors, early-mid-career professionals wishing to upgrade their know-ledge with latest concepts

-   The advance level is targeted at entrepreneurs, executives of high-level management levels and decision-makers who want to deepen and qualify not just in waste management but the entire value-added chain.

The project is currently inviting knowledege, implementation & marketting partners.If you’re interested to join, please write us at shivali@isah.uni-hannover.de, weichgrebe@isah.uni-hannover.de