A first-of-its-kind workshop for African World Plumbing Council (WPC) member organisations was held alongside the WorldSkills Africa 2025 capacity-building programme for Plumbing, hosted at the Fountain Gate Craft & Trades School in Lusaka, Zambia, from 1–5 September 2025. This workshop assembled a team of proactive WPC representatives from Zambia, South Africa, and Rwanda for a first in-person meeting of WPC member organisations on the continent. 

All images supplied by IOPSA

The workshop aimed to lay foundations for a new WPC Africa committee, strengthening collaboration in the plumbing and WASH sectors and helping to drive strategic development in the region. 

IAPMO and the International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Foundation (IWSH) played a prominent role throughout the week, furthering their global mission of workforce development and social impact under IAPMO’s ten-year Global Industry Partnership with WorldSkills International. IAPMO helped support training activities and competition standards development for the WorldSkills Africa capacity-building component of the event — working together with participating plumbing instructors from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Namibia and Ethiopia – while IWSH also introduced a new collaboration with the Rothenberger Tools for Life Foundation (T4L) which provided additional hands-on plumbing masterclasses to the WorldSkills group. Further to this, T4L instructors ran a parallel training workshop for more than 50 local trainees of the host organisation PAZA (the Plumbers Association of Zambia) and donated all tools to these participants at the end of that activity. These various training sessions gained widespread attention via the T4L instructors’ social media channels (@nample and @thepeakyplumber), reaching more than a million views during the event.

The WPC and IAPMO also hosted a mid-week evening reception celebrating all WorldSkills Africa 2025 partners and participants, and at the conclusion of the week’s events, each WPC Africa attendee received a commemorative Lusaka 2025 IWSH challenge coin. 

This initiative has created a platform for future collaboration between WPC member organisations in the region, with potential outcomes including formation of new national plumbing associations, development of codes and standards, and TVET system enhancement in partnership with WorldSkills Africa stakeholders. The newly formed WPC Africa workgroup will begin meeting regularly online starting in October 2025 and target their next in-person workshop to be co-located with another appropriate plumbing industry event in Africa in 2026.

Feedback from IOPSA

Steve Brown, executive director of IOPSA, along with other members, attended the Zambian African Capacity Building Training programme. Steve reported that overall, the Zambian plumbers possessed a lot of passion for the trade and had a genuine “hunger for knowledge”. The country doesn’t have any standards, so they struggle to train new and existing plumbers – hence why they want to work with the WPC and local government to create standards.

Overall, Steve felt that the Zambian plumbing trade saw South Africa as a “shining light” in terms of the work they do and the solutions they have shared over their 34 years as an association; and they are looking to associations like IOPSA as a cornerstone to solve their issues surrounding standards and training for the Zambian plumbing landscape. Within their challenges, Steve believes there is an opportunity to get their licencing and registration up and running.

Learn more about worldskills here: WorldSkills | IAPMO

By Moses Chongo, Chairman, Plumbing Association Zambia

In Zambia’s heart, a gathering rare,
World Plumbing Council Africa’s capacity to share,
Training members of PAZA with skill and care,
IAPMO and IWSH join hands, expertise to spare.

With pipes and fixtures, knowledge flows free,
Best practices shared, skills to see,
Africa’s future bright, with plumbing’s might,
Capacity building, a beacon in sight.

PAZA’s members learn, grow, and thrive,
Empowered by WPC, IAPMO, and IWSH’s drive,
Zambia’s plumbing industry, a new stride,
Improved services, communities to abide.

The training’s impact, far-reaching and wide,
Safe water, sanitation, for all to reside,
A healthier future, for Zambia’s land,
Thanks to WPC, IAPMO, IWSH and PAZA’s hand.

Let’s celebrate this milestone with cheer,
Capacity building, a success story to hear,
For a brighter tomorrow, we all strive,
With plumbing’s power, Africa’s future alive.

References:

  1. IAPMO
  2. Steve Brown, executive director, IOPSA
  3. Moses Chongo, Chairman, Plumbing Association Zambia
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