BUILDING COMMUNITY CAPACITY THROUGH TECHNICAL TRAINING INITIATIVES
Staff members of the Wek’eezhii Land and Water Board (the Board) have been exploring strategies to develop and deliver technical training programs that build capacity within our organization and for the communities that we serve. Training modules developed to date have focused on improving the Board’s understanding of topics that will aid in their decision-making. Other training initiatives designed for organizations outside of the Board are underway to support communities in achieving compliance with their water licence requirements.
For example, Board staff have been working closely with communities within the Wek’eezhii region to improve compliance with terms and conditions of municipal water licences. This training focuses on Surveillance Network Program (SNP) sampling techniques and specifications, reporting, and data interpretation. The session is designed in three parts; the first part takes place in the field collecting water samples at SNP sites, the second is in the classroom discussing water licence requirements and reporting protocol, and the third part is a discussion of the results from the sampling session. The community SAO is left with field sheets that depict the SNP sampling locations, parameters, and sampling techniques; and templates for completing annual reports.
To help foster understanding of water quality issues, the Board has teamed up with other organizations working on similar projects in the Wek’eezhii region. Collaborators on this initiative include: Environment Canada, GNWT – MACA, INAC, and Ecology North. Community participants have included: community Senior Administrative Officers, land officers, water treatment plant foremen, Chiefs, and others interested in or working for waters or works.
To date training has been conducted in Behchoko and Wekweeti and field programs have been developed. Sessions are planned for Gameti and Whati for next spring.
Behchoko SNP Sampling – Field Training Program Behchoko Annual Report Template
Wekweeti SNP Sampling – Field Training Program Wekweeti Annual Report Template