Dear Thammarat,

As I am trying to use financial and technical feasibility toolkit, somewhere I am not able to change data in technology selection sheet (e.g. cost of treatment technology) and revenue sheet (e.g. number of households, commercial settlements and institutions). This excel sheet is password protected and have some hidden sheets with that sheet, that's why I am not able to change it. So, my query is "Are these toolkits open for public access or it does have some limitations?". If it has open access then please let me know how I can utilize the tools with full access?

Thanks
Suman

Dear Elisabeth,

Thank you so much for sharing link to FSM toolbox. As of now I can download 8 FSM tools from the link fsmtoolbox.com/main/view-all-tools/ out of 15 tools. As Thammarat said that there are some technical problems in the website, I hope they will fix it soon and make access to all. And thanks to Thammarat and his co-partners who devoted their time to develop such an useful tool to assess the FSM business in a regional/national/local conditions.

With regards
Suman

Dear Suman,

Thanks a lot for an interest on FSM Toolbox which is recently developed. However, due to an urgent technical problem, the toolbox website is suspended for maintenance which should be reactivated in a week time.

We shall inform to all interested in due time.

Best,

THammarat

Dear Suman,
(referring to Suman's post from 9 Feb above in this thread)

Good question... I hope Thammarat will reply himself soon to provide a status update. Meanwhile, I asked Roshan Shrestha (Gates Foundation) about it and he replied:

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You may access FSM Toolbox in this link: fsmtoolbox.com/main/ and post it to SuSanA.
If people have any comments or suggestions, they may write to Thammarat This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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May I add that if people have comments or suggestions, they could also put them in this thread here, in order to save Thammarat time to respond to individual e-mails and rather respond here for the benefit of all. Thanks.

Actually, Suman, I will move your post and my reply into a new thread (forum.susana.org/forum/categories/53-fae...hailand-and-partners) as your question was about a separate project to this thread which was on "Sustainable decentralized wastewater management in developing countries: design, operation, and monitoring".

Your post has motivated me to put together a project description which I have now done, see above, in this new thread.

Regards,
Elisabeth

I have the pleasure today to introduce to you a project that Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand and partners have been working on, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is about the development and dissemination of a new Fecal Sludge Management Toolkit for investors, planners and consultants. I have compiled the information below based on materials I had access to, and I look forward to more information being provided by Thammarat Koottatep and his team (also please correct me if anything that I put below is wrong or outdated).

The most important information first: The toolbox is now available here:
www.fsmtoolbox.com/



Note: at least on my screen, I have to scrol down first before I can see the full content of the page; I missed that at first, that's why I am pointing it out to you.

All tools are available on this sub-page:
fsmtoolbox.com/main/view-all-tools/


Here is the grant description in the usual format:

Title of grant: Development and Dissemination of Fecal Sludge Management Toolkit for Investors, Planners and Consultants

• Name of lead organization: Asian Institute of Technology (www.ait.ac.th/)
• Primary contact at lead organization: Thammarat Koottatep, D.Eng., Associate Professor, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
• Grantee location: Klong Luang, Pathumthani, Thailand
• Developing country where the toolkit is being or will be tested: Senegal, South Africa, India, Uganda, Thailand, Bangladesh (this was the plan as presented in early 2015)
• Start and end date: 1 Oct 2014 to 1 March 2016
• Grant type: Other
• Grant size: USD 737,260 (as per BMGF grant database here )

Short description of the project:







The project started out with looking at other, existing toolkits in the area of FSM (see presentations linked below). The following information is taken from the second presentation in this list: www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2282

In the presentation in Hanoi in January 2015 it was stated:

What we aim to do differently:
• Not a compilation, but point user to specific tool based on assessment
• Using a bottom-up analysis
• Putting city-wide urban solutions in the centre rather than household-level
• Rate, prioritise and define the toolkit in a quick, user-friendly and easily accessible way

Questions for discussion (this was in January 2015):
1. What are the priority needs for the different target audiences? - There are three target audiences: City managers/planers, investors, consultants
2. Best strategy to build up capacity for use of toolbox
3. How best do we work together (communicate) to get the maximum synergies?

Timeline (as presented in January 2015):
• Web access for 2016
• Toolkits ready by Oct 2015
• Training & capacity building by Feb 2016


Goal:

to accelerate the effective and sustainable implementation of fecal sludge management projects in the urban poor communities where disposal of their excreta still relies upon non-sewer sanitation systems


Objectives:

Enhance the capability of key players such as investors (donors), city planners/utility administrators and consultants in the development of FSM projects and businesses with competency preparatory tools and resources

Research or implementation partners:

Hydrophil, Austria (for monitoring)

Advisory panel (source: presentation in Hanoi, January 2015: www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2282, or see here: www.susana.org/en/resources/conference-m...266-bmgf-dfid-cities)

1. Mr. Martin Gambrill, Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist World Bank, Washington DC
2. Ms. Isabel Blackett Senior Sanitation Specialist Water and Sanitation Program, World Bank, Washington DC
3. Mr. Ho Yueh Chuen (Peter) Senior Consultant ERE Consulting Group, Malaysia
4. Ms. Jing-Min Huang Senior Urban Development Specialist Asian Development Bank, Manila, the Philippines
5. Ms. Blomberg Malinne Chief Financial Analyst African Development Bank, Cote d'Ivoire
6. Prof. Meera Mehta Professor Emeritus CEPT University, India
7. Dr. Mbaye Mbéguéré Project coordinator Office National de l'Assainissement du Sénégal (ONAS), Senegal
8. Mr. Cheikh Toure Director General Environnement, déchets, eau (EDE), Senegal
9. Dr. Binay Shah Water and Sanitation Specialist Integrated Consultants Nepal (P) Ltd. (ICON), Nepal
10. Ms. Mai Flor Executive Director WaterLinks, the Philippines
11. Dr. Wijarn Simachaya Deputy Permanent Secretary Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand
12. Mr. Teddy Gounden Project Manager eThekwini, Durban, South Africa
13. Mr. Dorai Narayana Head of Department, Planning & Engineering Indah Water, Malaysia

Links, further readings – results to date:

• Project website: fsmtoolbox.com/main/
• See also global faecal sludge management e-learning alliance: www.fsm-e-learning.net/ (website still under construction)
• Related e-learning course: www.unesco-ihe.org/news/global-e-learnin...al-sludge-management and www.fsmonlinecourse-ait.com/ (or see here on the forum: forum.susana.org/forum/categories/140-co...in-several-countries)
• Documents about the project in SuSanA library: www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2282

Current state of affairs:

• Website now available to access the toolbox (question to project team: is the website still under construction? The pages for “about” and “Team” are still empty, it seems?)
• Project is nearing end of funding: project ends 1 March 2016 (extension planned?)

Biggest successes so far: no information provided

Main challenges / frustration: no information provided

Note by moderator (EvM): this post by Suman used to be a in a different thread (see here ), but has now been moved to become the start of a new thread on the FSM toolbox.
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Dear Thammarat,

As I can see that your are involved in Faecal Sludge Management process. Do you have access to FSM toolkit developed by AIT. I would be very thankful to you if you can share that document.

Thanks
Suman