The ‘War of the Future’ or something else …

I was preparing for a regular inspection visit to the community of Las Flores, municipality of Chinacla in the department of La Paz, Honduras.

The inspection took place in mid-May 2010 with Mr. Ely Nicholas from Marcala, La Paz, who since April 2010 is supervising construction of a new water system in this small village, 80 kilometres north of the capital Tegucigalpa.

 

Picture by Carlos Mejía

 

There were two main points of discussion: the location of the storage tank, and the possible construction of a new small dam in addition to the one which was budgeted for, so that it could provide the desired amount of water.

After several hours of travel we arrived at the community and contacted the president of the water board, Mr Jose Lopez, who guided us through the community to the prospective location for the storage tank. This is where we encountered our first problem.

We looked at the design and found that the outside designer had situated the tank in the middle of the street, where it would block traffic. Big mistake! We analysed a new location and marked it.  Although the first problem was solved, we did not know what was still waiting us.

Success story: Hygiene trickles down

It took years of lobbying before villagers from the beautiful Dang Valley lies Ghodd-haura, a remote village in western Nepal succeeded in opening a primary school for their children. Shree Primary educates 101 students of mixed ethnic heritage, including the Dalit minority, and its stone and woodwork building is in desperate need of renovation.

Shree Primary school Ghoddahura. Toilet made with UNICEF funds

Because of the small number of students enrolled, the government supports the school only up to grade four. If students want to continue their education, they have to walk downhill for an hour and a half and cross a river, which floods annually, to attend higher grades at another school, a signifi-cant burden for students at such an age. Similarly, all villagers who need to supplement their agricultural subsistence must walk for at least an hour and a half for food and other supplies.

Community Hygiene and Environment Improvement
Despite these challenges, the community convinced UNICEF to build toilets at the school for students and teachers. Teachers, villagers, and students carried the sacks of sand, cement, and bricks to the school from the base of the hill to ensure the toilet construction succeeded. Students and caretakers oversee their maintenance. Learning about this outcome, the Nepal Hygiene Improvement Project (NHIP) selected this school to participate in its school point-of-use pilot study conducted in early 2008.

Needs vs. Wants on ICT4D Projects

During ICT4D 1.0, it seems that project designers often focused ICT application on a top-down determination of needs, rather than a bottom-up statement of wants. Projects were designed around a standard information needs template that said communities needed better access to information on health, education, governance, etc. However, when community members can freely discuss what they want from ICT, priority items are often a mix of help with new income and employment, and entertainment.

Our Successful Partnerships, Success Story and Successful Projects

Three years ago, Life and Water Development Group Cameroon and its US partners, Hope College chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA started a water project in the community of Nkuv, Cameroon. A locality out of Kumbo in the North West Region of Cameroon.

Laying the pipe into the pipeline

The project history started as follows: Mr. Peter Njodzeka, the founder of LWDG-Cameroon submitted a project application to the EWB USA and Hope College Chapter was awarded the project, and from that moment the EWB USA linked their chapter Hope College with Peter Njodzeka to discuss the possibilities and understanding the project. Hope College traveled to Nkuv, Cameroon for their first time in March 2006 for an assessment trip, and returned in May 2006 for a tentative implementation. We tried drilling wells using hand drilling equipment, which was a fiasco, we could not find water and could only find rocks and dry sand. This first trial, which was a failure, Hope College did not surrender, they returned in December the same year and constructed three biosand filters trial, which some people in the community were using to filter their water directly carried from streams, and after six months, the health survey team from Hope College had a good results from the families using filtered water, and we increased the number to 15 filters, during this time, we were trying other ways out searching for water sources in the mountains, we finally found a spring, but after testing, the results were not good for consumption because of cows that are all year round in these hills.

BURKINA FASO: Multimedia tools help to change hygiene behaviour in Bokin district

Solar powered computers, digital cameras and projectors are being used in 20 remote villages in Burkina Faso to raise awareness over hygiene and help people adopt good practices. The NGO which has introduced the multi-media hygiene programmes believes that their high tech approach is having a higher impact on hygiene awareness, compared to using of pictures on cards. “We noted that people are more willing to stop their bad practices”, says Paulin Ouédraogo, coordinator of the Burkinabese NGO Sahel Solidarité. And one of the facilitators noted: “With the old method, 15 people were educated, but with the multimedia tools, we reach the whole village.” Reed more at:
http://www.irc.nl/page/49635

Learning and Demonstration Project for Safe Disposal and Use of Excreta

The Indigenous Paéz Community Munchique – Los Tigres, Municipality of Santander Quilichao, Cauca Department, Colombia, South America Project title .

The Indigenous Government of Munchique-Los Tigres and the Municipal Government of Santander Quilichao, CONSAM, Alter-Eco Description of project Los Tigres – Munchique is an indigenous community with 4.000 inhabitants distributed in 17 villages in a mountainous rural area, two hours from the town of Santander.