The health and safety implications of socio-cultural context for community construction projects in developing countries

Community participation in construction during rural infrastructure projects in developing countries is encouraged by many non-governmental organizations. The health and safety aspects of this type of development model have not previously been adequately researched, however. The aim is to identify the socio-cultural factors that motivate community members to participate in construction activities which they perceive as hazardous during a case study of a water and sanitation project in rural Ghana. This is a step towards understanding how health and safety can be more effectively managed during community development projects. A qualitative approach has been taken, using interview, observation and reflection. It was found that the communal culture of the local context resulted in community members feeling pressurized to participate in hazardous construction activities. Local customary laws further compelled individuals as they were concerned they could be fined or arrested should they not fulfil their communal obligations. Further work is required to determine the boundaries within which findings apply but it is likely that there are implications for others managing community construction projects both in Ghana and further afield

Innovative learning at The University of Edinburgh

The activities available to civil engineering students during the University of Edinburgh's innovative learning week in 2012 were examined. The academic staff proposed a wide range of possible activities and student participation was optional. Popular activities were those with a ‘hands-on’ element: making or doing something. The practical activities offered included designing and building trebuchets, relaying railway permanent way on a heritage railway, practical workshops on engineering in international development and learning to juggle. These activities suggested that heuristic learning by trial and error was likely to enhance the visualisation skills that contribute to good engineering design. Further, the linking of achievement to purposeful practice rather than innate talent could inform teaching methods in the future. They also showed that in some cases safety culture messages were still not fully assimilated by students

Social and cultural context of rural water and sanitation projects: case studies from Ghana

The research underpinning this work took place in the context of two rural water and sanitation projects carried out in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The focus of study was on the way engineers can make water and sanitation projects more sustainable. In particular, emphasis was placed on the broad range of non-technical factors engineers need to incorporate into the design of water and sanitation systems and the processes they need to follow in order to achieve this, looking specifically at the implications of community participation for design process, project management and health and safety management. The current high failure rate of rural water and sanitation projects provided the impetus for carrying out this work. There is an urgent need to improve engineering ability to provide vital life-saving infrastructure in developing countries as this infrastructure is a pre-requisite for poverty reduction. A critical realist perspective framed the research to allow socially constructed realities to be combined with scientific and technical facts, and to allow inquiry in a ‘real world’ scenario where variables cannot be controlled individually. The research questions were explored through the author’s involvement in two community development projects involving water and sanitation system implementation. The key methods employed were interview, both informal and group, observation and reflection. The contribution to knowledge made by this investigation is an increased understanding of the relevance of social and cultural context for engineers engaged in rural water and sanitation infrastructure provision through exploration of these issues in a particular context. Also examined are health and safety aspects of rural water and sanitation projects where the community participate in construction. Whilst health and safety had been explored in a developing country context there is a lack of previous work looking at these issues in a community self-construction context. It was found that a broad range of factors need to be considered in the engineering design of water and sanitation systems if projects are to have a chance of being sustainable in the long term. In order to understand and design appropriately for the context of rural projects with direct community involvement it is necessary to adapt the engineering process to incorporate community participation fully into the design and construction of water and sanitation facilities. Where communities are involved in construction particular issues arise with regards to health and safety management; many of the issues originate in the socio-cultural context and motivations for community members to engage in hazardous construction activities need to be understood and considered to properly manage the construction process. To truly incorporate the ideas of local communities into engineering design, engineers need a greater awareness of the assumptions they hold arising from their scientific outlook. Further research is required in different contexts in order to more clearly define the boundaries of the findings of this study and begin to overcome the limitations of the case study method. However, this research contributes to understanding how engineers can improve their designs of water and sanitation infrastructure and the processes they use to create more sustainable projects by looking at these issues in one particular context. This contribution adds to understanding of how a lack of access to water and sanitation infrastructure in rural regions of developing countries can be overcome, which is ultimately necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals and as a pre-requisite to reducing poverty in the developing world

A case study of the impact of cultural differences during a construction project in Ghana

The lack of native engineers in developing countries means that often foreign engineers have a role to play in implementing the water and sanitation systems for rural communities as needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals targets for access to clean water and sanitation facilities. However, cultural differences between foreign engineers and local communities can lead to ineffective project management where these differences are not identified and managed successfully. A case study of a water and sanitation project undertaken in the Eastern Region of Ghana, with a British engineer and project manager, is used as the basis for exploration of some of the issues that arise when engineers work cross-culturally on this type of project. Hofstede's cultural dimensions are used as a conceptual paradigm through which to understand the behaviours and actions observed during the case study. The aim is to identify possible explanations for why cultural tensions arose during the project as a step towards understanding how these tensions might be reduced or eliminated in future projects in similar cultural contexts. It is found that cultural differences between engineer and community at the case study project led to issues with communication and implications for the effectiveness of different management structures. Findings may have broad relevance and help other engineers avoid some of the pitfalls of working in a cross-cultural context

Teaching Skills for Conceptual Design - A New Approach

Engineering is to a large degree about problem solving and communicating solutions to problems effectively. Despite this, most engineering undergraduate programmes focus largely on technical matters with little time devoted to teaching problem solving skills. This paper describes developing, delivering and assessing a novel course designed to equip students to solve open-ended, ill-defined problems. These kinds of problem are not solvable by computer or easily “outsourced” around the world. Hence graduates with skills at solving them will be well-placed to compete in future employment. Through problem-based and self-led learning the course enabled students to develop expertise at problem definition, option evaluation, engineering communication and conceptual design. To encourage free exchange of ideas and rapid development of design solutions, informal sketching and approximate calculations were emphasised over formal drawings and precise calculations. Use of Excel as means to communicate, as much as to calculate, was highlighted. The authors recognised that learning through failure is intrinsic to developing problem solving skill so assessment was heavily loaded towards rewarding engagement with the material rather than “correct” solutions. Moreover, early cycles though the design process attracted few marks so that students could build knowledge and ability without fear of being marked down due to poor initial attempts. Staff found that while many students were initially flummoxed by the unfamiliar, non-prescriptive nature of the course, over time the value and purpose were recognised. End of course student feedback was exceptionally positive with many comments recognising the value of the content and style of the course

Approaches to resolve conflict and support collaborative decision making in participatory transboundary watershed management

Transboundary watersheds are often such large and complex systems that no one person can have complete knowledge of the hydrological, environmental, political, legal, economic, and social processes that interplay within them. With multiple jurisdictions using and maintaining the water system, no one individual or entity has the power to fully control how the system is governed. This means that when it comes to making decisions about how to manage watersheds, current best practice puts a lot of focus on collaborative processes that bring together a broad range of stakeholders with knowledge about distinct aspects of the watershed’s systems alongside those with different responsibilities and powers to govern it. Bringing together diverse stakeholders, who view the watershed from a range of perspectives, has the potential to lead to either conflict or cooperation. The challenge for transboundary water resources management is to find the means to bring together diverse perspectives in a way that fosters communication, and not confrontation. The aim of the present work is to contribute to addressing this challenge.The upper St Lawrence watershed is used as a case study to explore the themes of conflict and cooperation in transboundary watershed management. The study is broken down into two parts. The first looks to the recent past and presents a critical analysis of the stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution processes employed by the International Joint Commission during negotiations to change the management regime of the St Lawrence River. Audio recordings and transcriptions of public and technical hearings held by the IJC in 2013 were systematically analysed to assess the extent to which this process was able to achieve consensus in decision making, and understand the root causes of any residual conflict. The second part of the study looks to the future. Serious games have been touted as a novel tool with applicable value in supporting collaborative decision making. Seminal literature presenting a variety of distinctly different approaches to decision making was selected and reviewed to survey the breadth of decision making processes employed. Exploratory interviews were conducted with water resource managers across the St Lawrence region to explore whether a serious game might be useful in this particular context.A general conclusion is reached that both Shared Vision Planning and Serious Games increase the likelihood that, when diverse perspectives are brought together, collaboration will prevail over conflict. In the case of Shared Vision Planning, this is achieved by identification and resolution of disputed causal associations through collaborative model building; in the case of Serious Games, it is achieved by expanding the experience and awareness of actors by allowing them to role play another perspective. It is suggested that the Serious Games approach may have the advantage of helping develop empathy, as games can be designed to allow players to experience the challenges faced by other stakeholders first-hand.Les bassins hydrographiques transfrontaliers sont généralement des systèmes si volumineux et complexes que personne ne peut avoir une parfaite connaissance des processus hydrologique, environnemental, politique, juridique, économique et social intrinsèquement associés. Quand de multiples administrations utilisent et entretiennent le système hydrographique, aucune personne physique ou morale n’a le pouvoir de contrôler complètement la façon dont ils sont régis. Cela signifie que lorsqu'il est question de prendre des décisions quant à la gestion du bassin hydrographique, les meilleures pratiques actuelles insistent largement sur des processus collaboratifs qui rassemblent un large éventail d’intervenants ayant des connaissances sur des aspects particuliers des systèmes de bassin versant aux côtés de ceux ayant diverses responsabilités et pouvoirs pour les administrer. Le fait de rassembler divers intervenants qui ont des points de vue différents sur le bassin hydrographique est susceptible d’entraîner des conflits ou de la coopération. Pour la gestion des ressources hydriques transfrontalières, le défi consiste à trouver les moyens de rassembler les divers points de vue de manière à favoriser la communication et non la confrontation. Ces travaux ont pour objet de contribuer à relever ce défi.Le bassin versant supérieur du fleuve Saint-Laurent est utilisé comme étude de cas pour étudier les thèmes de conflit et de coopération dans la gestion de bassins hydrographiques transfrontaliers. Cette étude est divisée en deux parties. La première se penche sur les dernières années et présente une analyse critique de l’engagement des intervenants et des processus de résolution de conflits employés par la Commission mixte internationale (CMI) lors des négociations visant à modifier le régime de gestion du Saint-Laurent. Les enregistrements sonores et les transcriptions des audiences publiques et techniques organisés par la CMI en 2013 ont été systématiquement analysés afin d’évaluer la capacité de ce processus à parvenir à un consensus dans la prise de décision et de comprendre les causes profondes des conflits résiduels. La deuxième partie de l’étude se tourne vers l’avenir. Des jeux sérieux ont été présentés comme nouveaux outils ayant une valeur applicable pour appuyer la prise de décisions concertées. Des publications fondamentales présentant plusieurs approches nettement distinctes en matière de prise de décision ont été choisies et examinées pour sonder l’étendue des processus décisionnels employés. Des entretiens exploratoires auprès des gestionnaires de ressources hydriques de toute la région du fleuve Saint-Laurent ont été effectués pour étudier l’utilité d’un jeu sérieux dans ce contexte particulier. En conclusion, la Planification de la vision commune et les Jeux sérieux améliorent tous deux la probabilité que la collaboration l’emporte sur les conflits, lorsque différents points de vue sont réunis. Dans le cas de la Planification de la vision commune, ceci est obtenu par l’identification et la résolution d’associations causales contestées par le biais d’une construction de modèles en collaboration ; tandis que dans le cas des Jeux sérieux, ceci est réalisé en développant l’expérience et la sensibilisation des acteurs en leur permettant de jouer le rôle d’un autre point de vue. On suggère que l’approche des Jeux sérieux peut présenter l’avantage de contribuer à développer de l’empathie, du fait qu’ils peuvent être conçus pour permettre aux joueurs d’acquérir une expérience directe des défis relevés par d’autres intervenants

Culture in Rural Water and Sanitation Projects: a Case Study

A case study of a water and sanitation project under construction in Emem, Ghana is used as a basis for consideration of how culture impacts on the engineering design and implementation of projects in rural communities in less developed countries. The hypothesis is that local culture is an important consideration if long term sustainability is to be achieved. It was found that, contrary to expectations, cultural issues such as religious belief had no direct bearing on the design parameters of the project. However, an understanding of local culture was vital in establishing lines of communication during the construction phase. Different attitudes to problem solving between foreign engineers and local people created some problems, but in other cases were complementary. It is concluded that engineers working on such projects need a clear understanding of their own world view in order to relate properly to their clients

Improving the case-based reasoning prediction of the compliance of treated effluent from constructed wetlands

This study aims to improve a case-based reasoning system designed to predict the compliance for BOD5 of effluent from constructed wetlands in terms of simple-to-measure parameters. The data set was extended, similarity matching improved, the variable (field) weightings used in similarity scoring were refined using a genetic algorithm and the system was tested with an alternative CBR engine to verify the independence of the result. The modifications resulted in an improvement of overall accuracy from 81% to 83%, compared with 77% in a previous study, and an improvement of the accuracy of regulatory fail predictions from 58% to as high as 76%. Results were shown to be independent of the CBR engine used. Continuing inaccuracy is noted because the case-base includes many more pass than fail cases, and further improvements will be obtainable only by incorporating additional fail cases into the data