Dear Courage,
Thanks for introducing your project on improved fecal sludge management in Zimbabwe. According to your project timeline you should almost be halfway through the project by now. It would therefore be great to get a status update on the progress and the experience you gained so far.

Some questions that I would like to hear more about include:
Have you been able to develop and test the new sludge management model? What does it look like (e.g. technology, scale, business-driven)? Are you producing biogas as well as a sub-product apart from fertilizer? If you have implemented a pilot, what is the context? What challenges have you been confronted with and what have been the strategies to overcome them (for example, the engagement of decision makers or the acceptance of treated excreta products in agriculture)?

Kind regards,
Kim

I would like to introduce to you a project indirectly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that I am working on. Like 9 others, it is part of the Sanitation Research Fund for Africa which Sudhir explained here on the forum:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/99-fae...pit-emptying-updates

Title of grant:

Developing innovative techniques for pit latrine desludging and subsequent sludge management in low income urban settlements

Subtitle: The use of anaerobic technology to treat pit latrine sludge for beneficiation

Name of lead organization: Chinhoyi University of Technology in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe (www.cut.ac.zw/)



Primary contact at lead organization: Dr Courage Bangira <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

Short description of the project:
The project explores various methods of managing pit latrine sludge effectively for improved sanitation, food and energy security and sustainable environmental management in peri-urban settlements by generating biogas and applying sludge to soil as an amendment and fertilizer for crop production.

Goal:
Improve sanitation, food and energy security, and sustainable environmental faecal sludge management

Objectives:

1. review faecal sludge or pit emptying policies and practices in Zimbabwe, including legal, institutional, socio-economic factors and perceptions
2. characterize pit latrine sludge contents in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe (physico-chemical analyses)
3. develop a solution based on anaerobic technology and perform field tests that result in beneficiation from the sludge through re-use and application
4. investigate the potential of a community-managed business model
5. engage researchers, students, policy makers and other public and private decision makers in faecal sludge management

Start and end date: 1 July 2013 to 30 December 2015

• Research or implementation partners: None
• Results to date: Reviewing sludge or pit emptying policies and practices in Zimbabwe, including legal, institutional, socio-economic factors and perceptions
• Website links: none so far; uniersity website: www.cut.ac.zw/