Training of engineering students through district-focused internship attachments

Rural areas of Uganda have been experiencing a shortage of adequately trained district technical staff. Many graduate engineers are unwilling to offer their services to the rural areas. Furthermore, those that eventually go to the rural areas are ill prepared and are not readily accepted by the district staff. This has resulted in the inadequate capacity for the technical management of the district’s needs. In order to address this situation, Makerere University with support of Rochfeller Foundation initiated a Pilot Project. Eleven civil engineering students were trained in a pilot district for a period of seven weeks. The training was done on a week rotational basis around the different departments of the district of local government. This paper describes the development of the pilot project and the experience of the students, the districts and staff of Makerere together with the lessons learned and the way forward

Maximising the benefits of urban drainage

Urban drainage has important health, economic, environmental and personal impacts. However current design techniques focus on water quantity issues. A multidisciplinary approach brings more factors into the design process, increasing the benefits of a drainage system, but this changes the design information required and the range of solutions available. The increase in factors to be considered also requires the institutional arrangements to be reviewed, to reflect the wider range of issues involved

Ecological sanitation uptake, knowledge, beliefs and practices in Kabale Municipality, Kabale District

Ecological sanitation is a promising novel innovation being promoted in many developing countries to boost sanitation coverage. This paper aims to share findings from a cross sectional study to assess ecological sanitation uptake, knowledge, beliefs and practices in Kabale Municipality, Uganda. A total of 806 respondents were interviewed, randomly selected from 32 of 77 (42%) villages in Kabale municipality. We held 6 focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews. Ecosan coverage was found to be 20% (163/806) and 82% of the respondents knowledgeable. Factors reported for the uptake included education, occupation, religion, age, promotion methods, positive beliefs and the geological formation of the municipality

Training for improved decentralized service delivery - a case study from Uganda

The introduction of decentralization and decentralized service delivery in Uganda placed an increased demand for qualified personnel at the districts and lower levels. Despite this, there were no efforts in the past to enlighten students and trainers at Makerere University about the existing gaps and opportunities available in districts so that the training could be tuned to the needs of the districts. In the year 2000, the Department of Civil Engineering in Makerere University started a pilot project to attach students to the technical departments of the district local governments to undertake internship training for a period of 8 weeks. The students were supervised by staff from districts and the Department of Civil Engineering, Makerere University. The project was financed by the Rockefeller foundation and the World Bank. Since then, 72 students (11 during the pilot and 61 during the full implementation phase) have undergone internship training in 9 districts in Uganda. Eleven (11) Makerere staff and over 90 district staff were involved in the project. A training manual was developed, relevant research to solve technical problems and assist the districts in improved service delivery was identified, and efforts are under way to evaluate the project and quantify the impact

Design of a modified dry toilet ventilation systems to accelerate drying

A study was carried out to develop a modified ventilation system to accelerate drying, which would be useful in shortening the retention period required before faecal matter can be rendered safe for handling. This would result in smaller units and reduced overall costs. The data analysed showed that all the Ecosan systems were operating on natural ventilation, but often with a number of shortcomings such as small vent pipe diameters as well as, improper and weak materials. It was concluded that a minimum vent pipe diameter of 150mm is required for efficient ventilation and better results could be obtained by incorporating a rotary vent turbine. The rate of drying in the vaults could be further increased by the use of one-way glass for the vault covers and insulating the walls, to optimise direct sunlight and minimize heat loss. These conditions are very important, if accelerated drying is to be realised

System assessment to develop water safety plans

Water Safety Plans (WSPs) are risk management tools designed to assure the safety of drinking water. WSPs have the advantage that they help minimise the risks to water contamination through identification and management of vulnerable points within a water supply system, which could allow microbial hazards to enter. This paper discusses one of the crucial elements in establishing WSPs, the system assessment. It outlines findings from fieldwork undertaken on a UK, Department for International Development (DFID) funded project on development of WSPs in Kampala, Uganda

Low cost faecal sludge dewatering and carbonisation for production of fuel briquettes

Globally, there is an increasing demand for energy to support development needs. The challenge of inadequate energy resources is more pronounced in developing countries/ regions like the Sub Saharan Africa. The quench for energy resources has translated into environmental degradation contributing to climate change. The waste industry is also growing with corresponding increase in population and urbanization. Most of the wastes especially municipal and domestic wastes contribute to global warming. This study sought to devise means of utilizing some waste streams like faecal sludge to partly address the energy deficiency in developing countries, but also trigger studies in similar line. The application of the findings in the study will also solve public health and sanitation issues in urban or peri-urban areas. In this paper, one will find effective and efficient means of dewatering and carbonizing faecal sludge to produce fuel briquettes for cooking

Towards a sanitation selection algorithm for enhancing decentralized service delivery

In Uganda, sanitation coverage is estimated at 53% and 39% for urban and rural areas respectively. The national coverage is 41%. Lack of proper sanitation potentially leads to environmental health problems, which in many cases cost lives and impact on health of a community and family income as more money is spent on medication. This leads to a vicious circle of poverty. The objective of this study was to collect information on the current practices in selection of sanitation arrangements and use it to develop a simple algorithm for use by decision makers and district staff to advise households on selection of appropriate sanitation systems. Currently, there is no streamlined criterion used. People select systems based on what they are used to. Consequently, traditional pit latrines are the commonest sanitation system used. These toilet systems however, are disadvantageous due to: difficult soils (rocky, collapsing formations and areas with high water table); when full, require that new pits are dug, which is expensive and in the dense settlements this is inhibited by lack of space for new pits. As a starting point, we have proposed a simple algorithm that can be used by decentralized districts to give guidance to households in the selection of sanitation systems. The principle of the sanitation ladder, where people choose from the whole range of options, and select systems based on site conditions, affordability as well as user acceptance and perceptions applies. At the next phase, we intend to carry out detailed consultations to get specific information on user preferences, develop costs for all categories and package the information in an easy to use document for awareness creation, advocacy and promotion of sanitation

Improving risk assessment and management in urban water supplies

The current approach to management of microbial risks in distribution systems places a high reliance on the results of testing indicator bacteria. There is evidence of the fundamental weaknesses of sole reliance on such approaches as the number of samples taken represent a minute proportion of the water supplied and studies have demonstrated that this approach results in limited protection of consumer health (Payment, 1991)

Results from FaME (Faecal Management Enterprises) - can dried faecal sludge fuel the sanitation service chain?

In Sub-Saharan Africa, sanitation needs for the majority of the urban population are met by onsite sanitation technologies. Cities grapple with management of faecal sludge (FS) once these technologies become full, while at the same time the urban economy is resource intensive. The FaME (Faecal Management Enterprises) project addressed both of these issues by identifying untapped markets for FS treatment products. Industries have a high fuel demand and FaME demonstrated that dried FS could be used as a solid combustible in industrial kilns. Existing treatment technologies were adapted for fuel production, and its application was demonstrated in two pilot kilns. Historically used as a soil conditioner, processing of FS to a solid biofuel could provide higher revenues, thereby providing a financial incentive for stakeholders to enhance FS management service along the entire sanitation chain