WASHTECH

"Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Technologies"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The water and sanitation sector is not short of new and emerging technologies, but hardly any have been adopted into national strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa, nor have they been widely taken up by private enterprise. The contribution of new technologies to MDG targets appears therefore to have been minimal in the last 20 years. A key constraint to reaching the sector targets therefore appears to be the lack of systems to assess the potential of a technology and lack of ability to take new appropriate technologies to scale effectively. WASHTech seeks to address the problem through research on an innovatory process for assessing the potential and sustainability of a wide range of new technologies, and for designing successful strategies for scaling up. The overall development objective is for more effective investment in new technologies to achieve MDG targets. The project (WASHTECH) objective is to strengthen sector capacity to make effective investment in new technologies, through development of a framework which assesses the potential of new technologies introduced into innovative de-centralised systems. The project objective would be achieved through research producing two levels of outputs. The first level of outputs will consist of a widely applicable Technology Assessment Framework (TAF) and process that will provide a simple system and criteria for evaluating new technologies and their performance, identifying sustainability issues, and analysing approaches to introduction, innovation, diffusion and scaling up, including establishing of the required capacities in the three countries,: Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda. The second level of outputs depends on the TAF development and capacity building. They define strategies for innovation and scaling up, and the time-span and process needed to achieve successful up-take and sustainability.These outputs are both of direct use to the sector and are also an indication of the value and application of the framework'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Innovative and affordable technologies to enhance living standards are within reach, yet implementation is ineffective and adoption is low. An EU initiative has provided sustainable water and sanitation services to three African countries.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Advancements in technology have led to the development of innovative water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) technologies. Yet, implementation of many such technologies has been unsuccessful due to factors such as cost, sustainability and suitability. The EU-funded http://www.washtechafrica.wordpress.com/ (WASHTECH) (Water, sanitation and hygiene technologies) project aimed to identify the stumbling blocks and help to resolve these issues in order to improve on the quality of life for all people.

Project members successfully designed and developed a technology assessment framework (http://washtechnologies.net/ (TAF)) for assessing the effectiveness, performance, suitability and sustainability of new technologies prior to implementation. This robust decision-making tool identifies promising WASH technology and determines risks and factors that affect successful rollout. It is intended for national and local governments, development partners, local private sector enterprises, non-governmental organisations, research and development institutions, and universities. The TAF was validated in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda using 13 different WASH technologies. An instruction manual is freely available online.

The team developed informative guidelines to implement and adapt the TAF at district and national levels with special attention for the introduction processes of technologies, the Technology Introduction Process (TIP). A series of reports were produced that review existing WASH technologies, document the experiences of the three countries in working with the TAF and present country-specific recommendations.

Project partners also established and facilitated learning alliances in the countries. A document was produced to provide guidance on implementing such alliances.

Thanks to WASHTECH, relevant stakeholders are no longer hesitant about adopting WASH technologies to deliver sustainable services. Armed with innovative tools and approaches for informed decision making and strategic planning, they can now offer a more respectable and humane way of life to the underprivileged.