Dear all,
Here is a description of a project that I am leading and which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I had already mentioned in the posts above.

Title of grant: Integrated Sanitation Investment Planning Tool (Phase 1 and Phase II)

Subtitle: To develop a decision support tool that will help cities provide cost-effective and sustainable sanitation options for all, especially the urban poor

• Name of lead organization: Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)
• Primary contact at lead organization: Sujaya Rathi, Principal Research Scientist, CSTEP
• Grantee location: Bangalore, India
• Developing country where the research is being or will be tested: India, Bangladesh, Nepal (2016)
• Start and end date: July 2013- December 2016 (The initial project started in 2013, and we signed a new amendment, that has the current scope that ends December 2016.)
• Grant type: Other
• Grant size in USD: 695,000 for Phase I and II as per BMGF grant database here )

Short description of the project:

User-friendly technology decision support tool integrates cost, cap/opex costs, logistics, equity, resource constraints (e.g. water/land/energy), human skills in a way that aligns with cities' existing management planning approaches and resources. In Phase I, a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) has been developed and used in one Urban Local Body (ULB) in India to determine technology choice options. Phase II will allow CSTEP to convert the PoC to a fully functional sanitation planning/decision-making tool. It will also be modified to link it to Saniplan (CEPT tool) suited to Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) and be part of the FSM Toolbox to be developed by Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), and help in capacity building of the FSM Toolbox in India.

The tool analysis informs multiple levels of government and technical decision makers , as part of the FSM toolbox (being developed by AIT, Bangkok), that will address the different tools, mnauals, guidelines etc., at different stages of the FSM process for a city.

Goal(s):

Will provide evidence based research result - strategic to highlighting the need and move towards FSM and other non-sewered sanitation options

Objectives:

• Develop a tool (from PoC) for city-wide sanitation planning that reduces the information costs associated with evaluating the costs and benefits of investing in different urban sanitation solutions (including centralized, decentralized, off-site, on-site, FSM and effluent treatment). Tool allows the user to compare and analyze potential investments in different types of sanitation technologies from different perspectives (technology, financial, environmental, etc).
• Sanitation planning tools demonstrated, using actual city data, in collaboration with 5 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in India . The elements of the FSM toolbox is validated and tested.
• Communication and Capacity Building

Research or implementation partners:

Practical Action: They are working with 2 cities in Odissa, India, and will facilitate testing of the CSTEP Tool along with the AIT Toolbox. Asian Institute of Technology will be developing the FSM Toolbox and CSTEP will be testing the same in cities with help of other partners like Practical Action.

Links, further readings – results to date:

• Link to tool: darpan.cstep.in:9000/all_screens
• Link to Report: www.cstep.in/projects/santool
• Presentation at FSM 3 Conference in Hanoi in January 2015: www.susana.org/images/documents/07-cap-d...-1/1-1-4-2-Rathi.pdf

Current state of affairs:

Validation of the contents, functionality and user experience (consultants, planners, city engineers, and decision makers) of the tool. The tool will be updated based on the inputs and then tested in cities in India, as part of the FSM Toolbox, being developed by AIT.

Biggest successes so far:

Tool used in the case of City of Warangal, where the tool guided the thought process of technology selection (looking at the city constraints, and the options that best suited to the context)

Main challenges / frustration:

Evidence on performance of technology options. To show the performance and cost of different technology options, well documented, validated performance and cost data is imperative. However, getting this data has been a challenge.

The server is under maintenance till 22nd September. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Thanks
Sujaya

Sorry for the long silence. Attaching the manual.

The project is in transition. Will update the project details, shortly.

Thanks
Sujaya

Hi Sujaya,

You mentioned in your last post that you are updating the manual for the PoC tool and that you would post it shortly.
Have you done this yet? I have accessed the website for the tool but I'm not too sure how to use it or navigate around.

Thank you.

Thanks Elisabeth for posting this. The link is working. Please open all the screens in different tabs. We are updating the manual and will post this shortly.


The presentation was short. The purpose of the tool - Think Systems and think options - was received very well.

We worked with the City of Warangal to identify relevant systems- the work is in progress.

This was a Proof-of-Concept and we plan to modify to address FSM needs. We have a done a survey to understand the information needs of key players and now in the process of identifying how best we can accommodate the needs- simple but informative/levels of information relevant to different types of users.

Look forward to comments on the tool ...

darpan.cstep.in:9000/all_screens


Sujaya

Thanks
Sujaya

Hi Dorothee,

I checked this with Sujaya and here is what she said by e-mail:

++++++++
Our website is: cstep.in/projects/santool

The tool website is working now. Sorry for the inconvenience – the server was being changed.

darpan.cstep.in:9000/all_screens

Will update the project information page shortly.*

Thanks
Sujaya


++++++++

* She was referring to her entry in the project database here:
www.susana.org/en/resources/projects?search=cstep

Elisabeth

Elisabeth/Sujaya, the link does not work. Thanks, Dorothee

The conference presentation that Sujaya mentioned in her post is now available here:
A Platform for Integrated Sanitation Investment Planning- Proof of Concept (PoC): Sujaya Rathi, CSTEP, Bangalore, India
www.susana.org/images/documents/07-cap-d...-1/1-1-4-2-Rathi.pdf

A link to the online tool is here:
darpan.cstep.in:9000/all_screens

My question to Sujaya: how was your presentation received in Hanoi and what feedback did you get? Do you see your decision support tool being used by planners in India in the near future? It is developed specifically for India for now, right?

Dear all,

We have developed a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) decision support tool that will aid cities in providing cost-effective, inclusive and sustainable sanitation options for all with a particular emphasis on the urban poor. This is proposed to be achieved through an integrated assessment framework of alternative sanitation technologies.

This report reviewed around 70+ existing support resources, including benchmarks, guides/manual, case studies, and evaluation tools. A compendium of this posted in Susana in April and can be found at this link below.

forum.susana.org/forum/categories/166-de...-portal-on-akvopedia).

The analysis indicated that the support resources reviewed are mostly designed to cater to planners and/or engineers thereby not adequately serving decision-makers. The major lacunae in the resources included a lack of integrated systems for decision support, that help compare various sanitation technology options (for each part of the sanitation chain) linked to a pre-determined evaluation criteria for a certain context. This includes an effective user interface; spatial representation and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) compatibility and database support to help save, update and retrieve data and scenarios for comparison. All these factors are considered essential in the development of a decision support tool.

The report describes the PoC decision support tool that aims to facilitate an integrated approach to the sanitation investment planning process for urban local bodies in India. The PoC tool is envisioned to provide stakeholders the information and knowledge of existing and new technologies in a manner that allows them to compare alternatives, assess cost/benefits and make informed decisions.

This Proof of Concept Tool will be available for demonstration at the FSM3 Conference in Hanoi, 19th - 23rd January 2015.

See you in Hanoi and look forward to collaborating in making this tool robust and useful.

Thanks
Sujaya