Building capability
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Community infrastructure needs – water and sanitation
Providing community infrastructure - gender roles
Rural infrastructure - the rural/urban dynamic
Infrastructure, civil engineers and the MDGs
Engineering capacity building
Targeting young people for careers in engineering
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Community infrastructure needs – water and sanitation
Card 3
Topic: Building capability
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How can the global water and sanitation crisis be addressed?
- Trends
Clean water and sanitation are among the most powerful drivers for human development. They extend opportunity, enhance dignity and help create a good cycle of improving health and rising wealth.
■ Currently 2.6 billion people around the world, 72% of whom live in Asia, lack access to an improved sanitation facility
■ 17% of the world’s population still practice open defecation
■ 884 million people around the world do not use improved sources of drinking water
■ 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease
■ Each year 1.4 million children die as a result of diarrhoea which is more common when there is a shortage of clean water for drinking, cooking and cleaning
■ At the current rate of progress, the world will miss the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for sanitation by a billion people
■ On current trends the world is on track to meet the MDG drinking water target although coverage in sub-Saharan Africa is still very low, with only 60% of the population served
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“Not having access to water and sanitation is a polite euphemism for a form of deprivation that threatens life, destroys opportunity and undermines human dignity.”
UNDP Human Development Report 2006
“One of the many things I learned as President was the centrality of water in the social, political and economic affairs of the country, the continent and the world.”
Nelson Mandela at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, 2002
Further reading:
WHO/UNICEF JMP (2010) Progress on Sanitation & Drinking Water
United Nations (2010) The MDG Report
WHO (2008) Safer Water, Better Health: Costs, benefits, and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health
UNDP (2006) Human Development Report
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Put water and sanitation high on the political agenda, and invest in it
- There is no doubt that water is moving up the political agenda but more needs to be done if the MDG targets are to be met.
President Barack Obama affirmed USA’s commitment to help the developing world in his inauguration speech: “To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
USA President Barack Obama - Inauguration Speech, 20 January 2008
Governments should to take a lead role in water and sanitation policy reforms and:
1. Make water a human right and mean it
2. Formulate attainable national strategies for improving Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
3. Focus on sustainable water and sanitation service delivery, and “make maintenance matter”
- 4. Promote community-led hygiene initiatives to eliminate open defecation. Initiatives such as the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) have been successful in improving hygiene and promoting behavioural change
5. Capacity building in WASH starting at community level and creating WASH advocates within national policy makers
Economic benefits from water and sanitation
■ Business and capital will be attracted to those economies where reforms in water and sanitation have been introduced
■ Access to water and sanitation equips people to get themselves out of poverty and to contribute to national prosperity
■ Every US$1 spent in the water and sanitation sector will create on average another US$8 in costs averted and productivity gained (school attendance, time savings) (World Economic Forum 2009)
Further reading
World Economic Forum Water Initiative (January 2009) The Bubble Is Close to Bursting
UNICEF (2009) Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Annual report
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Providing community infrastructure - gender roles
Card 5
Topic: Building capability
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How can we balance gender roles in sanitation?
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Facts
■ There is no universal “man” or “woman”. Gender-based roles and needs of women and men, girls and boys, often differ significantly when it comes to personal hygiene and sanitation. They vary based on the particular social environment and are established on the power dynamics of a society
■ Poor and inaccessible sanitation facilities impact the dignity, self esteem, and security of women
■ Sanitation can reinforce other inequitable social practices that most often undermine the position of women; for example, preferential access to education for boys over girls
■ The involvement of women and girls is crucial to effective sanitation projects. In developing countries they have the most responsibility for environmental sanitation and home health; therefore, their active involvement is needed for sanitation efforts to be successful – and without further adding to their burden
References
Karout N, Roles of Women/Women Association in Hygiene Education and Behaviour Change for Solid Waste Management Activities
WHO/Unicef JMP Report (2010)
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Scale of the sanitation scandal
2.6 billion people globally live without ‘improved sanitation’, i.e. without sanitation that safely separates human excreta from human contact. 17% of the world population have no sanitation infrastructure whatsoever and defecate in the open fields, forests, bushes or bodies of water, or dispose of human faeces with solid waste. This figure is a massive 44% in Southern Asia (including 638 million people in India), and 27% in sub-Saharan Africa.
This has tremendous health implications, and can also make women more vulnerable to serious harm and abuse.
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Remove obstacles that deny the rights of any gender
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Sanitation can bring dignity and safety
In the community of Abayatir in Ethiopia, Serekelem Denkenhe, 30, speaks of the improvements she has experienced as a result of building a latrine:
‘Before we constructed a latrine, if we had to go, we had to find an open field and during the dark we were exposed to danger, especially women. In our culture a woman’s dignity means that if she needs to defecate she has to go early in the morning before 6 o’clock, when people wake from their beds. If you miss that time in the morning then you suffer all day.
‘Three years ago we built a latrine which has had huge benefits for us, in terms of cleanliness and privacy. Before, we would use stones rather than paper. Because the latrine is in my own compound I can use water to clean myself. These problems have been solved because of the pit latrine [and hygiene education]. (
www.tearfund.org/waterandsanitation)
References
Coates, S. (1999) A Gender and Development Approach to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programmes, a WaterAid Briefing Paper
Tear Fund (2008) Gender and sanitation: breaking taboos and improving lives
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Solutions
■ Take gender roles and potential gender differentiated impacts into consideration in the design implementation and monitoring phases of sanitation projects
■ Dialogue on sensitive issues related to girls' hygiene should begin during the design phase and continue into the implementation phase of the project
■ Take advantage of participatory tools that exist to enable people to ‘talk excreta’ for the purpose of improving their sanitary life quality. For example, the ‘sanitation ladder’ and the ‘diarrhoea doll’ used widely in Southern and Eastern Africa
■ Raise awareness on health prevention and promotion, to improve and reinforce women’s education quality. This is a must in order to improve the health situation, and for a better quality of lifestyle
■ Approach gender and hygiene issues with an opportunity for men and women to have a role in the promotional work and division of responsibilities for family hygiene practices. This encourages shared decision making about resources and the needs of men and women are addressed relative to their own areas of skill, authority and responsibility
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Rural infrastructure - the rural/urban dynamic
Card 1
Topic: Building capability
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How does urbanisation affect rural communities and the need for rural infrastructure?
- The effects of urbanisation must be understood, for rural development to be strategically planned.
Competition for resources – e.g. water
■ In many developing countries, agriculture is the key economic contributor. Urbanisation increases water demand and creates more waste water, reducing water for agriculture. At current agricultural water productivity, another 4,500 km3/yr would be needed to feed the world in 2050 (more than twice current irrigation water use)
Changing demands for produce:
■ Urbanisation and higher incomes lead to diversification of consumer needs, changing demands for agricultural products. This damages the livelihoods of farming communities without diverse crops or the ability/knowledge to diversify
Changing community structures and migration patterns:
■ Urban migrants in search of work are often male, increasing the rural area proportion of women and elderly. This, plus greater mobility due to better infrastructure, and increased industrial employment (rather than land-based employment), weaken traditional structures (including community cohesion) which enable community management of some development projects. Rural/urban interaction policies should not consider only mega-cities, as rural communities often interact more closely with intermediate towns and cities.
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Example:
Urban resources needs impact rural infrastructure – sand mining in Sri Lanka
Rapid urbanisation drives demand for construction aggregates, leading to intense harvesting of river sands and gravels during low flows. Riverbeds are often excavated to impermeable clay or rock levels, removing the capacity of the river to store ground water.
Ground water of adjacent lands lowers (drying wells), the river level drops (affecting irrigation inlets) and the lowering riverbed undermines bridge foundations, embankments and pipelines (see photo below).
Kelani river bank erosion due to sand mining. (Photo: Badra Kamaladasa, Irrigation Department of Sri Lanka).
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Manage urbanisation as an opportunity for rural poverty alleviation
- Improve infrastructure for access to urban markets
■ With better communications and transport infrastructure, rural producers can reach urban and export markets more easily (often through intermediate settlements), increasing both economic activity and household welfare
■ National policy must acknowledge the rural economic input and enable local authorities to encourage infrastructure provision and support communities to adapt livelihoods.
Adapt crops and safeguard livelihoods (see example)
■ Assist smallholders to diversify crops and households to diversify livelihood strategies beyond agricultural production (e.g. through training and micro-financing)
■ Reduce vulnerability through securing rural livelihoods so reducing the driver for urbanisation. Other methods for reducing vulnerability include micro-insurance, defence against natural disasters and disaster management plans.
Improve water/land use efficiency
■ Urbanisation requires increased agricultural efficiencies to support growing populations and improve agricultural economic input with existing resources, and to create rural livelihoods so reducing urban migration
■ Governance systems must promote equity to ensure improved water management, to assist poverty reduction
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Example: Adapting rural livelihoods to diversifying urban markets – two villages in the Red River Delta, Vietnam
The village of Nhat Dong switched from subsistence rice farming to high value fruits and vegetables with some households conducting additional non-agriculture activities that allow for investment in better farming technologies. In contrast, Ngoc Dong moved out of agriculture (now only six percent of average household income) and now produce rattan handicrafts, which along with other non-farming rural occupations make up nearly 70% of average household income.
Local authorities were critical in helping this transformation. They encouraged the building of infrastructure, training for handicraft production, and access to inputs for farmers.
Further reading:
Professor Calestous Juma (2006), Redesigning African Economies: The Role of Engineering in International Development, The 2006 Hinton Lecture
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Infrastructure, civil engineers and the MDGs
Card 67
Topic: Building capability
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Would the MDG targets be met even if all the required funds were available?
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Look beyond safety and economic considerations in designing infrastructure
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"It is better to know most of the questions than all of the answers" – James Thurber
The civil engineer in a developing world:
■ Must consider issues of asset management, environmental sustainability, and socio-cultural sensitivity for infrastructure integration. Infrastructural development should also lead to the alleviation of poverty. It poses many other questions outside the traditional safety and economic concepts that underpin designs.
■ Must be more proactive in planning, design and procurement responsibilities and the need to appreciate that these responsibilities hugely influence the ultimate value for money in infrastructure delivery.
■ Must keep abreast of best practice methods for the design of sustainable infrastructure, to meet the challenges of today and fulfil the needs and aspirations of people now and into the future
- The best engineering solution to a problem is one that, in addition to safety and economic considerations, answers questions on asset management, environmental sustainability and socio-cultural sensitivity including poverty alleviation.
References
1. Foster, V (2008) Overhauling the Engine of Growth: Infrastructure in Africa
2. World Bank Unit Cost of Infrastructure Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa
3. Watermeyer, R (2006) Poverty reduction responses to the millennium Development Goals
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Engineering capacity building
Card 78
Topic: Building capability
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Why is a shortage of engineering capability a barrier to growth?
- Technical capability is needed for developing countries to engage effectively in the global economy and to ensure that international aid is utilised effectively and efficiently.
In developed countries, the role of engineers in contributing to economic development is well understood and utilised. However, in much of the developing world, countries lack the technical skills to address even important basic societal needs that rely on engineering, such as clean water supply and sanitation.
In many developing countries this shortage of technical capability is compounded by the brain drain of engineers from rural to urban areas and from developing to developed countries.
The table opposite, which shows the population per engineer (for all engineering disciplines) for selected countries, highlights the scale of the problem in some parts of the world.
In developing countries the populations served by each civil engineer in local government are vast, of the order of 33,000 in South Africa and even greater elsewhere (Lawless, 2007).
(*= registered engineers only)
Adapted from Lawless A (2005)
References and further reading
Lawless A (2005) Numbers and Needs: Addressing Imbalances in the civil engineering profession, SAICE, Johannesburg
Lawless A (2007) Numbers and Needs in Local Government: Civil Engineering the critical profession for service delivery, SAICE, Johannesburg
Jones, RC, Past President of WFEO, papers on Engineering Capacity Building
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Develop engineering capacity to achieve sustainable socio-economic development
- A sufficient pool of engineers can enable developing countries to address the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) effectively.
Technical capacity building in developing countries can provide a major step forwards for sustainable economic development.
Case study: South Korea
In 1970 South Korea had approximately 6,000 engineering graduates. In 1980 these were increased to 14,000. By 1990, the figure had jumped to approximately 80,000.
When plotted against South Korea ’s per capita GNP growth, the number of engineering graduates almost directly parallels the growth of the South Korean economy, offset by a few years. This data suggests that investment in building a well qualified and sufficiently large pool of engineers can lead to sustainable economic development. (Jones, 2007)
Planners and government officials in developing countries must pursue effective economic development and job generation strategies in parallel with making the needed investments to enhance the quality and quantity of engineering graduates.
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Some initiatives to address infrastructure needs in areas where there are shortages of engineers include:
■ Identify skills gaps and prioritise and target skills shortage areas with training programmes
■ Encourage and incentivise young people into maths, science and engineering studies
■ Incentivise large engineering companies to train staff from smaller ones
■ Incentivise engineers with skills and experience to move to shortage areas
■ Promote virtual working methods to enable engineers to train and work remotely
■ Twin youth with experience
■ Deploy students and graduates on long-term workplace training contracts
■ Harness professional bodies to mobilise available or retired skills to coach and to advise on professional training
■ Second experienced municipal staff working in the private sector to run departments and rebuild internal capacity in needs areas
■ Implement an 'adopt-a-town' strategy whereby the private sector is appointed on a turnkey basis to address backlogs, refurbish and rebuild long-term structures and systems
An example of a successful engineering capacity building programme is the Ethiopian Engineering Capacity Building Program
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Targeting young people for careers in engineering
Card 69
Topic: Building capability
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How can we encourage the young to study maths, science and engineering?
- Whilst it may not always be possible to deal with temporary capacity shortages, it should be possible to ensure sufficient overall capacity in the longer term by investing in the engineers and scientists of the future. Addressing issues of capacity should be a shared task, led by government, but with the support of educators, institutions and practitioners to ensure success.
What can Government do?
■ Provide scholarships to those wishing to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) topics
■ Create more spaces at university for STEM subjects
■ Incentivise business to provide industrial placements for school and university students
What can educators do?
■ Hold competitions and reward children who do well in STEM subjects
■ Work with practitioners to make science and engineering real to children
■ Seek work experience for students; arrange site visits
■ Establish centres of excellence for STEM subjects
- What can institutions do?
■ Make it a requirement of Chartership for members to spend time mentoring and coaching
■ Provide scholarships to those wishing to study their subjects
■ Lobby government to provide educational and work opportunities for young people
■ Encourage children to study STEM subjects at school (see the Thuthuka Education Upliftment Fund which encourages rural children to study mathematics and science, established by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Bridge Building Competition run by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering
What can practitioners do?
■ Mentor children and young people
■ Work with educational institutions to provide career days or STEM awareness days
■ Act as judges at competitions
■ Supervise site/lab visits. Make STEM real
■ Be enthusiastic about their profession and pass on their enthusiasm
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Create awareness and provide incentives
- Success story - from National Science and Technology Forum of South Africa (NSTF)
Three young South Africans made history by being the first foreign country to win First Prizes in their categories as well as the Best in Category at the INTEL International Science Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the USA.
Siya Xuza won with his project on the development of an innovative fuel for rockets. Raeez Lorgat won in the Computer category while Tanja Kellerman won in the Plant Sciences category where she developed a herbal remedy from indigenous plants to treat ticks. They won laptops and cash prizes and Tanja was also invited to attend a special camp in Israel. The Massachusetts Institute for Technology has named a distant planet after Siya. (www.nstf.org.za).
Young engineers and scientists of Africa - identifying talent through creativity and innovation
"Exposing learners to opportunities to promote creativity and innovation coupled with the development of 21st century skills such as high productivity, inventing thinking, effective communication and digital age literacy have to receive greater emphasis in the national curriculum even in deep rural schools." (www.yesa.org.za)
- Bridge building competitions
The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) initiated the bridge building competition 1991 to further high school learners' use of maths and science in an engineering context to grow the profession. It has since become an enormous success and is enjoyed by schoolchildren across the country, as well as neighbouring countries such as Namibia and Zimbabwe. The bridge building competition forms an integral part of some schools' activities and is recognised on the same level as academic or sports achievements. (www.saice.org.za)
Further reading:
ICSU website