Thanks for information about something positive happening in Cameroon. I will watch the discussions on this forum and follow the progress. I am based in Bamenda Cameroon

This seems to be a very interesting constellation. If the results comply with the number of participants, than this will be one of the top quality research projects . In serious... I think it is very valid to have several approaches all tied together. Really very interesting project(s) congratulations.

Yours
Christoph

I would like to introduce to you today a research project that I am involved in (in one of the sub-projects) and which is funded by a number of organisations, one of them being the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Title of grant: SPLASH research program on sustainable sanitation service chains in low-income urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa (www.splash-era.net)

Subtitle (more descriptive title): Investigating aspects of sanitation service provision in urban areas, from the household to final disposal.

The SPLASH Sanitation Research Programme, led by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, is funding five research projects in sub-Saharan Africa investigating aspects of sanitation service provision in urban areas, from the household to final disposal.

The countries in which the research is being applied are Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Mozambique.

Name of main grantee: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Primary contact at SDC: Manfred Kaufmann
Programme co-ordination and dissemination: Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Primary contact at WEDC: Julie Fisher
Grantee location: Switzerland

Start and end date: 1 April 2011 to 31 June, 2014

Funding:
The SPLASH Sanitation Research Programme is jointly financed by ADA (Austria), DFID (UK), MAEE (France), SDC (Switzerland), SIDA (Sweden) and BMGF (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).

The part of the BMGF was 475,000 USD (see grant database )

The figure below gives an overview of the emphasis with regard to sanitation of each of the 5 projects.



The 5 projects are briefly introduced below:

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3K-SAN: Catalysing self-sustaining sanitation chains in informal settlements

Lead organisation: University of Surrey, Robens Centre for Public and Environmental Health Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom

The 3K-SAN project is developing and evaluating strategies for catalysing self-sustaining sanitation chains in low-income informal settlements in Kisumu (Kenya), Kampala (Uganda) and Kigali (Rwanda). Identification of commonalities and differences between these areas is being used to develop broader best-practice guidelines for comparable interventions in similar settlements throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

For information on the project, visit: www.3ksan.org/

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U-ACT (Urban Affordable Clean Toilets project): Economic Constraints and Demand-led Solutions for Sustainable Sanitation Services in Poor Urban Settlements

Lead organization: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - ETH, Zurich, Centre for Development and Cooperation, Zurich, Switzerland

U-ACT is active in the low-income areas of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, a setting which is representative of many urban centers in sub-Saharan Africa. With the aim to overcome constraints to private sanitation investment and public sanitation maintenance, U-ACT empirically tests various interventions of on-site sanitation systems in randomized controlled trials.

For information on the project, visit: www.nadel.ethz.ch/forschung/u-act

To discuss the project, see here on the forum:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/106-us...-kampala-uganda#6552


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FaME: (Faecal Management Enterprise): Providing Sanitation Solutions through Value Chain Management of Faecal Sludge

Lead organisation: Swiss Aquatic Research Institute, Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries (Sandec), Dübendorf, Switzerland
Contact persons: Linda Strande, Moritz Gold

The project focuses on developing solutions for faecal sludge management that provide a financial driver to enhance service at every step in the value chain. The purpose of the project is to create scalable reuse-oriented faecal sludge value chains that capture and create value from faecal sludge end-products. To achieve this, market demand and calorific value studies have been conducted in Ghana, Uganda, and Senegal, reuse-based financial-flow models are being developed and research on enhancing dryness and combustion of faecal sludge in pilot kilns in Senegal and Kampala is being done.

For information on the project, visit:
www.sandec.ch/forschung/sandec/gruppen/E...ts_ewm/fame/index_EN

Discussion on the forum about this project here:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/53-fae...project-senegal#6582

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MAFADY: Mastering the sanitation chain from the household level in the coastal zone of Douala, and in the informal urban settlements of Yaoundé, Cameroon

Lead organisation: Ecole Nationale Supérieure Polytechnique de Yaoundé,Yaoundé, Cameroun

The goal of this project is to determine what actions are needed and by which actors relating to sanitation practice, that will lead to improvements in hygiene and human health not only in the coastal areas of Douala 4th, but also in the slum districts of the humid, tropical cities of Yaoundé 6th. Seven work packages will be implemented to achieve this objective. Work packages two to five are on specific scientific and technical elements, while the remaining two are concerned with aspects of management and the dissemination of results.

For information on the project, visit: www.splash-era.net/srp_mafady.php

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And this is the project I am involved in:

CLASS-A: Sustainable and resilient sanitation service chains in Maputo province, Mozambique – action research and piloting for benefit of the urban poor

Lead organisation: International Water Association, IWA, The Hague, Netherlands

Sanitation planning which incorporates a risk-based management approach is virtually non-existent in developing countries. The objective of the research is therefore to identify, develop and promote appropriate intervention strategies that enhance the resilience of urban sanitation services and their supply chains, through the adoption of risk-based management strategies.

For information on the project, visit:
www.iwahq.org/261/themes/urban-sanitatio...itiative/splash.html

More information in this discussion forum:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-san...unded-by-splash#6663

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SPLASH Partners:

ADA: Austrian Development Cooperation
BGR: Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany
CMCC: Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change, Italy
DFID: Department for International Development, UK
DGDC: Directorate General for Development Cooperation, Belgium
DIE: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik
DWF: Danish Water Forum
IMET: Italian Ministry for Environment and Territory
IRD: Institute of Research for Development, France
MAE: Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, France
MZP: Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic
NERC: National Environment Research Council, UK
NVE: Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate
SDC: Swiss Agency For Development and Cooperation
SYKE: The Finnish Environment Institute
ULB: Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
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