Assignments and Interaction

Every week there will be two to three different assignments that have to be worked on.

The assignments aim at stimulating discussion and deepening the topics addressed during the course. They differ in length, complexity and time they require for completion. They have to be completed either individually or jointly. Next to that, you can be asked to react on fellow participants' results in the 'Forum' so to give and receive feedback on your contributions. The exchange in the Forum is an essential part of this online course and we want to highly encourage you to make full use of it during the time the course is running.

The TNU team strives to respond to any questions participants submit via the call center within 1 hour. This is applicable from Monday - Friday from 9.00 - 17.00 CET (Central European Time). A response to assignments we aim to give within 24 hours.


The following is a former example assignment of week three titled 'Options for actions':

  • Promote the concept of water as an economic good and the use of subsidies, if at all necessary, to improve access to services by the poor
  • Promote a more equitable division of basic infrastructure services and adherence to cost recovery
  • Remove impediments to an open (informal) market as it drives up prices for the poor
  • Develop payment systems together with the community representatives
  • Develop approaches that help communities to select a system and level of service that they want and can pay for

For one or two of the options listed above: Describe how they could be applied in practice, OR give real-life examples. Upload your answer via the submit field.