EWB-UK UK National Research & Education Conference 2011 Our Global Future 4th March 2011

Two case studies of rural water and sanitation development projects in Ghana A. Furber & M. Crapper
Institute for Infrastructure and Envi Environment, ronment, The University of Edinburgh

Abstract Two case studies of water and sanitation projects currently being undertaken in the Eastern Region of Ghana are used to explore the theme of the conference, our global future. The role of the engineer in gl global obal problems such as poverty is considered, in particular with reference to the role of the foreign engineer. It is concluded that foreign engineers do have a role to play in rural community development but that it is fundamentally important to ensure effective ef stakeholder engagement is maintained through all stages of development projects.

Introduction One of the biggest impacts that engineers can have is in increasing access to uncontaminated water and reducing exposure to the waste products our bodie bodies s produce. Millions die every year in the developing world because of inadequate sanitation. Ensuring people have access to clean water and satisfactory waste removal systems may be one of engineering's least glamorous challenges but it is undoubtedly one of its most important. (Cairncross 2008) Engineers have an important role to play in helping to lift the millions of people living without access to water and sanitation facilities out of poverty. It is not enough to simply drop technologies into communit communities ies however; there are many other dimensions to the implementation of water and sanitation systems which need to be considered. Overlooking social and cultural aspects of development interventions can lead to failed projects and wasted funds. It has been widely acknowledged that poverty is a global problem, and that eradicating poverty will be a key component in establishing a long term sustainable future as a planet (Jowitt 2006). Engineers are used to solving the problems facing their societies, but how can they adapt to apply their problem solving skills to the problems faced by other societies with different cultures and ways of live? This research explores stakeholder engagement as the means by which engineers can work with communities to help them find d solutions to their water and sanitation needs in a way that is socially and culturally acceptable, thereby improving the likelihood of a successful and sustainable outcome to projects.

Method The subject of stakeholder engagement has been explored throu through gh action research (Lewin, 1946). Action research is a method of learning by doing, in which the researcher undertakes a cyclical process of planning, acting, observing and reflecting (Kemmis, sited in Hopkins, 1985). The authors carried out two water and sanitation development projects, which are discussed here as case studies of the research. During the projects a range of stakeholder engagement methods were trialled and their appropriateness and success reflected upon (Furber & Crapper, 2011b). The Edinburgh branch of Engineers without Borders demonstrations developed through the project, Developing Intermediate Educational Material (DIEM) (Byars et al. 2009) was one method of engagement tested.

Two Case Studies from the Eastern Region of Ghana Emem Emem is a small village of about 200 people situated beside Lake Volta in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Most of the people who inhabit the village are of Ewe descent, their families having relocated from the Volta Region following flooding of the land caused by the Akosombo Dam. Most of the men are fishermen and/or farmers and the women farm and trade the fish caught by the men in their family. Lake Volta is the main source of water for the community, previous groundwater exploration in the area having failed to find accessible aquifers. Prior to the project, only one family in the village were treating their water before drinking it. it Sanitation facilities in the village were extremely basic with only a handful of families having access to a toilet. The few toilets in the village were simple pit latrines with timber and mud floors over the pit with a simple structure made from local materials to provide some privacy. Initially the goals of the project were to help the community gain access to potable drinking water and increase access in the village to sanitation facilities. As the project progressed however the scope was increased to include income generating activities such as fish and agricultural farming. This was largely in response to the need to raise income so that the community could keep the pump supplied with petrol. To ensure the long term sustainability of the project, cows were also invested in. Cows insure the system as they can be sold when investment in the system is required. It should Panel Presentation: Water & Sanitation Authors: Alison Furber Institutions: University of Edinburgh

EWB-UK UK National Research & Education Conference 2011 Our Global Future 4th March 2011

be possible after selling a cow to buy a new cow and have profit remaining for reinvestment. Figure 1 shows the schematic of the water system constructed at Emem.

Usual fluctuation in water level Pump Drainage Water transmission from pump Water treatment: to tank multi filtration approx 400m system

Intake from Lake Volta

Treated water tank

U-shaped shaped pipe configuration con between intake and pump to approx 4.5m depth to accommodate changing water levels of Lake Volta Tank stand 2m high approx

Treated water collection area

Raw water storage

Steps down to treated water collection area

Raw water tap: Raw water tap: Adults Childrens Drainage Raw water collection area

Figure 1: Schematic of the water system constructed at Emem

Figure 3 Figure 2 Figure 2: Photograph of the raw water collection area at Emem, Figure 3: Photograph of the water treatment and treated water collection area at Emem during construction.

Panel Presentation: Water & Sanitation Authors: Alison Furber Institutions: University of Edinburgh

EWB-UK UK National Research & Education Conference 2011 Our Global Future 4th March 2011

Baw Baw is a small community situated in the rainfor rainforest est of the Eastern Region of Ghana. The nearest town is Bepong, but this is a good fifty minute car journey along a very poorly maintained dirt track. After consultation with the community it became apparent that the main development concern of the commu community nity at Baw was that most of their children were unable to attend school. There had been a Government school in the village in the past but it had been difficult to retain teachers as they predominantly came from areas with better infrastructure and they found Baw uninhabitable due to the lack of water and sanitation facilities. Travel costs made it unfeasible to live in Bepong and commute to Baw for work. The school gradually fell into disrepair and closed a number of years ago. Since then most of the children c in the village have not attended school. Those few who had were forced to walk over an hour to the nearest school. Due to the risks involved in making the walk alone, the children started school much later and were older than the other children in i their classes. Whilst initially engaging with the village to help them gain access to improved water and sanitation facilities, it was clear that education was a key priority. Therefore the authors collaborated with volunteers from the organisation Original Ori Volunteers, the authors taking on the water and sanitation elements of the project and Original Volunteers the renovation of the school building. The school building was financed by two volunteers, Jon Gay and Poppie Jones, and the construction work k was carried out by many dedicated volunteers. Everyone worked towards ensuring that the school was sustainable by securing commitment from the Government to supply teachers and putting in a system whereby each parent would contribute a small amount per child per term. This would pay for a local teacher to work at the school continuously and fill any gaps between Government teachers. The local teacher was not a qualified teacher but he had attended school himself and funding was donated for him to take a college course which would improve his teaching skills. At the time of writing the work on the school building has been completed and can be seen in figure 4. Construction of the toilets at the school is ongoing; one of the more recent photographs can be seen in figure 5. The toilets will be dual pit ventilated latrines, with a metal roof. There will be three cubicles, one for girls, one for boys and one for the teachers. teache Each cubicle will have two toilet seats but only one will be in operation at an any y time. The first seat will be used to fill pit number one, which when full can be closed off. Toilet seat two will then be used until pit two is full, by which time the matter in pit one will have composted down and the pit can be used again (see Penn, 2008). The children and teachers stated a preference for a seat over the pit hole and so the teachers will have porcelain KVIP seats, the childrens seat will be constructed from concrete with a plastic seat and lid set in. The choice of concrete for the childrens seat was made so that small toilets can be built for the children; porcelain is only available for full size adult toilets. A hygiene area will be built so that the children can wash their hands after using the facilities. This is likely to be a very simple bucket tip system (for example see Hayward, 2010) which will require water to be carried to supply the system daily.

Figure 4 Figure 4: One of the classrooms at Baw School, Figure 5: The toilets under construction at Baw.

Figure 5

Panel Presentation: Water & Sanitation Authors: Alison Furber Institutions: University of Edinburgh

EWB-UK UK National Research & Education Conference 2011 Our Global Future 4th March 2011

Results Several results have been drawn from the work already undertaken. The role of culture in water and sanitation projects has been explored through a case study of Emem and it was found that culture played an important part but not in the way that was hypothesised (Furber & Crapper, 2011a). It had been hypothesised that stakeholder engagement would uncover cultural issues which would form design parameters for the project. This hypothesis arose from a review of the literature, for example the desc description ription of the way Ewe people belief their ancestors to take up residence in natural habits after they die (meyer 1999). Water dwelling ancestors can be offended by the presence of manmade materials in the water. This could have been important at Emem as the system consisted of a pump drawing water from Lake Volta, which is inhabited by a spirit. In actual fact however, this turned out not to be a concern of the people of Emem. Cultural factors did have a big impact however as differing Western and local concepts of time and space caused a variety of issues during the project. Stakeholder engagement was found to be critically important to effective water and sanitation projects (Furber & Crapper, 2011b). Lessons were learnt during the project at Baw when a key social factor was missed during stakeholder engagement, leading to long project delays and damage to researcher/community relations. Of the stakeholder engagement methods trialled, DIEM material was found to be particularly effective. The demonstrations demonstr and experiments gripped the communities and successfully raised awareness of the science and engineering principles upon which their systems were design. During the projects several health and safety incidents highlighted the importance of giving special consideration to health and safety when working in developing communities. In particular the ethical issues that arose when accidents occurred that were unrelated to the project but those involved were uninsured and turned to the authors for financial finan help with hospital fees (Furber et al, 2011c).

Discussion This section relates the research carried out to the theme of the conference, Our Global Future. Poverty is now widely accepted to be a global issue and a lack of water and sanitation facil facilities ities form a key barrier that prevents communities from rising out of poverty (Jowitt, 2006). There are a number of problems which arise when Western engineers take on the challenges of rural community development in developing countries however. As foreigners eigners engineers must take care not to undermine the right of the host community to self-determination, self their right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development (UN, 2007 Article 3). It cannot nnot be assumed that the development goals the engineer perceives (or assumes) the community hold necessarily match the true priorities of the community. Thorough stakeholder engagement is required to ensure the engineer is helping pull development in the same direction to that of the community. The projects undertaken at Emem and Baw both demonstrate the broad view that engineers must take of both their role and the scope of the project if development interventions are to truly make an impact on the lives of communities who are the intended beneficiaries. At Emem it was necessary to increase the scope of the project to include income generating activities and project extras such as cow insurance. Without the income generating activities it may not have been possible to keep the water pump supplied with petrol. Without the cows it would be likely that the water system would only run for the life time of the pump, or until another part of the system breaks or wears out and needs investment. ion was the key development priority of the community, water and sanitation provision was a secondary At Baw education requirement arising out of the need to provide adequate living conditions to retain teachers at the school. It became necessary to work in collaboration with other volunteers in the area to ensure the project genuinely met the needs of the village.

Perhaps it would be better for local engineers to undertake the development of infrastructure in their own countries? In developing countries there are only five ve engineers for every ten thousand people, in some African countries there is less than one. It is estimated that two and a half million new engineers would be required in Sub-Saharan Sub Africa if water and sanitation facility access is to reach everyone (U (UNESCO, NESCO, 2010). Based on these statistics it is clear to see that there are not enough local engineers to undertake the work, support will be needed from abroad. Even if there were enough engineers in developing countries, those engineers could be as forei foreign gn to the rural community as a Western engineer. There is no guarantee that an engineer with the same nationality as the rural community will share the same culture, values and perspective on life. At Emem and Baw the authors found that they did have a ro role le to play in rural community development but that the role was different from that traditionally taken by a Western engineer working in his/her own country. To ensure that the community had the knowledge and understanding that would allow them to maintai maintain n their systems in the long term much more time was spent engaging with the community and discussing and explaining technology options. The role involved being more advisor and consultant to the local community, who ultimately needed to be the ones to make mak the design choices.

Panel Presentation: Water & Sanitation Authors: Alison Furber Institutions: University of Edinburgh

EWB-UK UK National Research & Education Conference 2011 Our Global Future 4th March 2011

With the increased scope of the projects the authors also found their role as engineer took on a broader perspective. At Emem, author Furber was involved in financial planning, fish net construction, cow purchasing. At Baw it was necessary n to look at Local Government policy regarding the provision of teachers to remote rural locations and to organise a system by which the community would contribute to the salary of a member of the community who was better educated to teach the children ren in the absence of Government staff. Looking at the broader picture of community development when engaging in infrastructure development projects can quickly increase the complexity of the problem at hand. Systems thinking becomes important to ensure that t the interrelation of issues has been explored and as a way to manage the resultant complexity. It is important to consider the way that the project integrates with the context in which it is situated, for example by looking at interactions with environmental, nmental, political and social systems, to ensure the long term sustainability of the project. Engineering educators need to ensure that the future generation of engineers have the appropriate skills to be able to do this (Jowitt 2004).

Conclusion Engineers rs have a vital role to play in our global future, not least through their efforts to help the worlds rural poor gain access to improved sources of water and improved sanitation facilities. As many of the engineers involved in this pursuit are by necessity ity foreign engineers, it is fundamentally important to ensure effective stakeholder engagement is maintained through all stages of development projects. It is in this way that local culture and way of life can be incorporated as important design consider considerations, ations, giving projects the best chance of long term sustainability. The role of the engineer in rural development projects is different from that of typical projects in the developed world. At Emem and Baw it was necessary for the role of the engineer to be broadened, reflecting the broad range of development concerns of the communities.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to extend thanks to the Chief, Elders and villagers of Emem and Baw and Original Volunteers Ghana for their assistance with the conduct onduct of this research. We are also grateful to the many people who contributed to the funding of the Emem Water Supply and Sanitation Project. The research was conducted with the aid of funds from The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Engineers without Borders UK - Research and The Carnegie Fund for the Universities of Scotland for which we also offer our thanks.

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Panel Presentation: Water & Sanitation Authors: Alison Furber Institutions: University of Edinburgh