Our Activities

Our activities have mostly been in Ghana though the TREND Group has a history of carrying out short term assignments in several Anglophone West African Countries. TREND’s main areas of operation in its mission to ensuring sustained delivery of water supply and sanitation facilities are targeted at rural areas, small towns, and deprived urban areas. Community-focused water resources management is an increasing area of activity.

TREND’s main areas of operation in its mission to ensuring sustained delivery of water supply and sanitation facilities are targeted at rural areas, small towns, and deprived urban areas.

• Training, Training Materials Development
• Development of Materials
• Organisational Development in Support of Decentralisation
• Knowledge management
• Applied research
• Networking

Training, Training Materials Development
TREND specialises in training needs assessments, curriculum development and conduct of training programmes for sector professionals. Training activities are mostly delivered within the context of sector related projects. Our approach to training in the sector stresses on the sharing of practical experiences and in the promotion of sustainable options. Through curricula development and conduct of training activities we strive to connect with important national goals of reducing poverty, supporting decentralised governance and incorporating cross cutting issues such as gender, HIV/AIDS prevention, and integrated environmental management.

Development of Materials
TREND has on many of the project it has supported led the effort in materials development – including tool kits and manuals for sector professionals, manuals for sector professionals and a wide range of promotional materials. The process has often involved preparation of drafts, extensive field-testing before final revision. TREND has developed an in-house publishing capability and has carried out several sector focused publications.

Organisational Development in Support of Decentralisation
The scope of interventions has involved organisational assessments, organisational re-engineering, conflict resolution, strategic planning, human resource development and team-building issues all aimed at empowering institutions to ensure self renewal and the ability to handle change. In recent times, consulting in organisational development targeted at district assemblies -with a view to enabling them to handle changing environments emanating from the on-going decentralisation has constituted an important component of TREND’s activities.

Knowledge Management
The Water and Sanitation sector in Ghana has achieved much by way of coverage improvement but the process has not incorporated much learning or knowledge management. TREND is leading the effort of a resource centre network (RCN) in Ghana to transform the sector into a learning and knowledge driven sector. Through networking with other Resource Centres and coordination with sector agencies, TREND is helping to develop capacity for assessing knowledge requirements, developing information products/services, and encouraging the dynamic sharing and utilisation of information resources with a view to improving investments in the Ghanaian Sector. The Group has positioned itself as a key sector memory base where documentation of sector experience including unpublished literature will be safely kept.

Applied Research
Applied research constitutes a key area of activity in its effort to strengthen knowledge management in the sector. The approach of TREND is to promote research that dwells on practical issues and ensures that researchers work closely with sector agencies that will play a key role in identifying research needs. Thus research is carried out in close collaboration with District Assemblies, community intermediaries such as local private sector, NGOs, CBOs and with representatives of communities. Working closely with stakeholders helps to ensure that research projects are action-oriented and answer relevant and important questions as well as fill important knowledge gaps.

Networking
TREND maintains a conscious effort to promote the establishment of a strong network between itself and other resource centres – both locally and internationally. Through information exchange, consultation and collaboration, within Ghana, TREND is actively involved in fostering partnerships and networking among sector players including existing resource centres, collaborating educational/research institutions as well as the key clients of knowledge management services – including government agencies, NGOs and communities. The improving situation with ICT in Ghana is increasingly providing expanding avenues for information sharing and networking.