Hi Elisabeth

This is not an interim report. Its a technical brochure. Each project will have its own report - this brochure merely synthesised some of the information from the each research team.

Transformation and redress is one of pillars of the WRC. We do track number of female researchers - we also publish reports to celebrate their achievements (
). The WRC also sets targets for enrolment of post-graduate students.

About page 6, the photo at the bottom was taken from on sampling campaign in Kampala. Notice the variety of colours and consistency. I think that sums up the variability of faecal sludge in one photo. Other photos point to variability also including trash.

Dear Sudhir,

Thanks for posting your report. It is - as usual by WRC - very well laid out and jam packed full with interesting information about innovative techniques for pit desludging and subsequent management, and physico-chemical properties of faecal sludge! The program still runs until January 2017, so is this an interim report which will be followed by a final report next year?

I thought this was pretty impressive, and good that you're tracking the percentage of female students (did you have a target for female students?):

NUMBER OF STUDENTS
A total of 35 active postgraduate students were involved in research activities with 5 PhD and 30
MSc candidates. Female students represent 23% of the total.

You said above that the graphic on Page 6 was your favourite one - do you mean this one? What do you like about it in particular?:





Regards,
Elisabeth

Please find document attached. The document highlights FSM R&D from sub-Saharan researchers involved in the SRFA Programme and includes topics by post-graduate students.

Page 6 has my favourite graphics.

Dear Elisabeth

1. The SRFA Project is geared towards urban and peri-urban areas. However, there were input from smaller towns which may not be as large and dense as a major city. So there has been work in that context.
2. This has been noted to be very country-specific. In the report, you will read that is some municipal involvement to provide services - the capacity to do so varies.
3. We are starting to see some of the students coming through the system. For example, 4 MSc students from Makerere will be doing their defence in Feb 2016. The WRC is currently synthesising the data from deliverables into 2/3 pagers for each group as the research is diverse (pit characterisation - pathogens, chemical, mechanical; anaerobic digestion - co-digestion, pasteurisation, dewatering; solar pastuerisation; suite of emptying devices).

The take home point is that pits vary so much - not only from country to country - but also household. The lack of standardisation of pit systems becomes apparent - only South Africa, Zim and Botswana had some type of standardisation with regards to design. From a management perspective, how do you handle this variability? Policy gaps are clear from FSM also.

Dear Sudhir,

Thanks for sharing this report (title: THE STATUS OF FAECAL SLUDGE MANAGEMENT
IN EIGHT SOUTHERN AND EAST AFRICAN COUNTRIES), it looks excellent!

I copy here something from the executive summary to give people a "teaser" about the content of this document:

Considerations for the future

Faecal sludge is a valuable resource that is still largely unexplored. It is evident that challenges and the areas
to be addressed listed above call for an integrated management solution that can turn faecal sludge from
waste to resource on a large scale.
It is essential that the sanitation managers of local authorities and utilities meet regularly at a sub-Saharan
forum to share success stories and lessons learnt. It is also essential that the required budgets, skills and
technology are harnessed to solve the faecal sludge problem of African cities effectively.

Possible focus areas:

• WASH campaigns that include educating children and adults (males and females) to be responsible and hygienic toilet users and cleaners.
• Solid waste removal services to informal settlements. Privatising re-cycling services might work.
• A cost effective and safe alternative for the pit to solve the problems with pit-emptying and potential groundwater contamination.
• Research and development of financially viable and scalable solutions for the treatment and re-use of faecal sludge. The cost-benefit calculation must reverse the money flow, i.e. pay toilet owners or collectors in money or by-products for faecal sludge.
• Supportive policy and legislation, and micro financing for the private sector to invest in these solutions.

Three questions:

1. Did you focus the report more on the urban situation or on the rural situation or treat both to the same level of detail? Normally FSM seems to be a bigger issue in urban situations. Did you find many differences between urban and rural?
2. Did you find much in terms of local government or commercial utility involvement in FSM? See also related discussion thread here: forum.susana.org/forum/categories/142-go...n-for-the-urban-poor
3. What are the next deliverables that the research teams have to produce?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Hi

Please find attached report of synthesis of status of FSM in selected countries (or see in SuSanA library here: www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2364). As a first objective for the SRFA, teams had to give feedback on the status of FSM in their respective countries as a Deliverable. A mixture of desktop and surveys were conducted depending what information was available in the study areas. We combined those reports into one document to extract main findings.

For me, coming from South Africa, it was really different and interesting. There were large-scale infrastructural projects to roll-out VIPs in SA. So there was a minimum building standard (even though it may not have been followed in some cases - Mr Dave Still has interesting photos of collapsing VIPs etc.). Having empting VIPs myself, not an easy task to remove slab and dig out the sludge. But in other countries, many of the toilets do not even have access slabs so the sampling team had to go through toilet. Brings about questions of how do we manage such variation - one pit may be dug 4 metres deep another 2 metres, etc.

Here is the presentation I did in May 2014 in South Africa (forum.susana.org/forum/categories/21-eve...lets-in-south-africa) on behalf on Mr Jay Bhagwan on the Sanitation Research Fund for Africa project, a joint initiative between the BMGF and the WRC.

Hi Mariska.

It will too early to present work at the conference in Kenya. The contracts have just been offered. A more realisic approach would be to target conferences next year. I will, however, keep everyone up to date with the progress of the different work on SuSanA.


++++++++++
P.S.
Some of the contractors have by now put up some information about their research on the forum (last edit on 10 March 2015):

(1)
Mzuzu University Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation, Malawi
Solutions For Pit Desludging And Subsequent Sludge Management In Low Income Urban Settlements in Malawi
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/99-fae...awi-mzuzu-university

(2)
Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University (NWU), Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa
Towards integrated sanitation and organic waste management – improving faecal sludge management on municipal level by upgrading local wastewater treatment plant with value-added processes (Example Tlokwe Local Municipality)
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/99-fae...fstroom-south-africa

(3)
Water for People, Kampala, Uganda
Kampala Sanihub project
The overall goal of the project is to develop innovative sludge removal and treatment technologies that can be pushed to market by sanitation entrepreneurs in Kampala to ultimately address household sanitation needs.
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/99-fae...-project-uganda#6315

(4)
Chinhoyi University of Technology in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe
Developing innovative techniques for pit latrine desludging and subsequent sludge management in low income urban settlements - The use of anaerobic technology to treat pit latrine sludge for beneficiation
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/99-fae...iation-zimbabwe#6423

(5)
Makerere University (Department of Agricultural & Bio-Systems Engineering) in Kampala, Uganda
Characterization of Pit Latrine Contents and Developing a Scientific Understanding of Processes Occurring in On-Site Dry Pit Latrines Systems in Low Income Urban Areas – A case study of Kampala Suburbs.
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/99-fae...-makerere-university

(6)
ATL-Hydro in South Africa
Ubuntu-SAN: Point-of-use dry sanitation and sludge beneficiation micro-entrepreneurship model
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/105-pr...eneurship-model#8295

(7)
Jimma University & the Ministry of Water and Energy (Ethiopia)
"Status of Urban Sanitation in the Capital of Ethiopia & the Urgency of Adopting an Integrated FSM System"
No entry on the discussion forum yet but a presentation at the FSM3 conference in Hanoi in January 2015 is available:
www.susana.org/images/documents/07-cap-d...-2/2-2-2-2aAbebe.pdf

This is great news! Will the initiatives also be presented during the IWA conference in Nairobi in the fall?

Thanks for sharing,

Mariska.

Hi Everyone
The WRC is in contractual stage with ten grantees with regards to the Sanitation Research Fund for Africa (SRFA) project. A total of ten contracts have been offered to ten institutions and organisations from eight different African countries.

Four institutions/organisations have been selected for developing innovative techniques for pit desludging and subsequent management:

1. ATL-HYDRO (South Africa - Dr. Wade Edwards)
2. Water for People (Uganda - Mz Cate Nimanya)
3. Mzuzu University (Malawi - Dr. Rochelle Holm)
4. Chinhoyi University of Technology (Zimbabwe - Dr. Courage Bangira).

Different technologies will be used by each of these groups. ATL-Hydro intends on testing a mobile pyrolysis and biochar unit. Water for People intends using various technologies (modified gulpers, etc.) to remove the sludge and treat it accordingly. Mzuzu plans on testing a pressure washer and pump system. Chinhoyi University of Technology plans on using an anaerobic digester to treat faecal sludge. The specifics of each of these projects and technologies will be available at a later stage.

Six applicants were offered contracts to analyse various physico-chemical properties of pit sludge:

1. University of Botswana (Botswana - Dr. P. Odirile)
2. Jimma University & the Ministry of Water and Energy (Ethiopia - Mikiyas Wolde)
3. Egerton University (Kenya - Edward Muchiri)
4. University of Malawi (Dr. Bernard Thole)
5. Makerere University (Uganda -Ahamada Zziwa)
6. University of Zambia (Zambia - Professor I. Nyambe)

The pit sludge characteristics in these different countries will be characterised for a number of parameters (chemical, physical and biological).

Hi Everyone. I am an assistant manager at the South African Water Research Commission (WRC). I previously studied and worked under Prof. Chris Buckley and Dr. Kitty Foxon from the Pollution Research Group, University of KwaZulu-Natal. I will be managing the “Sanitation Research Fund for Africa” – SRFA – project for the WRC. I would like to share some details of the SRFA Project to those interested in faecal sludge management and sanitation in developing countries.

The SRFA Project was established through a USD 2.5 Million grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The project was aims to stimulate local competency and capacity in the sanitation sector in the Eastern and Southern African Regions, and to provide solutions based on good scientific evidence related to up-scaling dry sanitation technologies. Ten research contracts will be issued, on a competitive basis, to research institutes or organisations in the targeted areas. The projects will be executed using the WRC model of research and innovation generation and dissemination.

Two key research areas have been identified for the project. They are:
• Characterisation of pit contents and developing a scientific understanding of processes occurring in onsite dry pit latrines systems in low income urban areas
• Developing innovative techniques for pit desludging and subsequent sludge management in low income urban settlements

The WRC has received a strong response to the proposal call. At the moment, the project proposals from various targeted African countries are being reviewed. We expect to have contracts soon – afterwards, I would list the successful institutions/organisations on the SuSanA website and will provide some details from each of the projects. We should expect some exciting technological advancements for pit desludging and management, and some interesting details on pit sludge from difference areas (wetness, rheology, quantity of non-faecal material, etc.). As soon as I get more information, I will post in onto the website. In the meantime, I can direct you to some of the WRC’s previous projects with pit toilets: http://wrcwww/Pages/KH_DocumentsList.aspx?dt=1&su=22&ct=6&ms=4;15;
You can download full reports from the above link for free. Similar reports will be published by the WRC at the end of the SRFA Project.

++++++

Further information:

• Duration: Nov. 2012 - June 2016
• Grant size: $2,499,982 (www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quic...s/2012/11/OPP1044943)
• Documents about this project in the SuSanA library: www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/2106

The Water Research Commission (WRC) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announce the establishment and launch of the Sanitation Research Fund for Africa. The fund is a direct result of the gap identified that Africa lags behind in terms of research and innovation (knowledge creation) due to the lack of dedicated sources of funding and support. This fund has been established to stimulate competency and capacity in the area of sanitation in the African region to support solutions and scaling up.

Requirements for Expressions of Interest (EoIs)

Applicants are required to submit a motivation (max 6 pages) in MS Word format to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for a topic. The EoIs should cover the following:

- Name of the proposer and project leader, including physical address, email, contact numbers etc.

- Understanding of the research to be undertaken

- The area of interest i.e:
a. Science and understanding processes in dry pit toilets and systems
b. Emptying or desludging techniques and sludge management for beneficiation

- Capacity and capability of the institution (including infrastructure)

- Profile of the Project Leader, including a breakdown of relevant scientific publications

Closing date for EoIs

The closing date for EoIs is the 31st January 2013, 1200 hours South African time. Successful EoIs will be informed by the 20 February 2013. This will be followed by submission of a full proposal for review and consideration. The required details will be conveyed.

For further details and queries please contact the following:

Mr Jay Bhagwan – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or +2712 832907232
Dr Valerie Naidoo – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or +27 832907241
Ms Lerisha Naicker – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or +27 123300340

For information on the WRC – www.wrc.org.za