African winners of WB innovation competition.Every 12 to 18 months, the World Bank runs a worldwide competition to find innovative ways of tackling pressing problems in emerging countries. The ideas submitted have to be practical and able to be replicated. Tom Nevin presents a selection of winning entries from Africa. ********** The World Bank development competition, valued at $600,000, is run at the WB headquarters in Washington DC. Since its inception it has disbursed over $23m in awards to 171 winning proposals. In essence, it asks entrants to find innovative ways to tackle pressing problems in emerging countries with ideas that work and that can be replicated. If a project is approved, it will receive funding ranging from $40,000 to $200,000. Here is the selection of some winning projects from Africa. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BENIN Solar Irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. Project Funding requested: $100,000 Team Leader: Jeff Lahl jlahl@self.org Sector: Energy Objective: To enable families in the Kalale District to grow crops during the six-month dry season using a reliable and economical means of irrigation. Rationale: Subsistence farming subsistence farming Form of farming in which nearly all the crops or livestock raised are used to maintain the farmer and his family, leaving little surplus for sale or trade. Preindustrial agricultural peoples throughout the world practiced subsistence farming. is the primary means of survival for Kalale district's population of 104,000. Farming is limited to the rainy season by a lack of accessible water for irrigation, resulting in deprivation and forced migration during the dry season. Innovation/expected results: Solar water pumping The pumping of water is a basic and practical technique, far more practical than scooping it up with one's hands or lifting it in a hand-held bucket. This is true whether the water is drawn from a fresh source, moved to a needed location, purified, or used for irrigation, washing, or and low-cost micro-irrigation techniques are technologies that have both been used effectively in developing countries, but seldom have they been used together in an effective way. By optimising these systems in tandem Adv. 1. in tandem - one behind the other; "ride tandem on a bicycle built for two"; "riding horses down the path in tandem" tandem , a replicable model will be developed for the upliftment of not only Kalale district, but potentially other parts of Benin as well. At least 20 families (100-200 people) will directly benefit from the solar-irrigation project and most, if not all, of the 4,500 people living in these two communities will benefit from the added supply of clean water during the rainy season. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Promotion of Green Stoves in the Eastern DRC DRC Democratic Republic of Congo DRC Down (Stage) Right Center DRC Director(ate) of Reserve Components DRC Disability Rights Commission (United Kingdom) Funding Requested: $124,755 Team Leader: Olivier Mumbere Muhongya olivier_jgi@yahoo.fr Sector: Energy Objective: To increase rural incomes while decreasing deforestation deforestation Process of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. through the promotion of green stove construction in communities near natural reserves. Rationale: Baseline research in villages surrounding community reserves in North Kivu Province of the DRC showed that 61% of households depend entirely on wood for their survival, resulting in health problems and deforestation. There is a pressing need in these communities for cooking technology that can reduce health risks and environmental concerns. Innovation/expected results: This project introduces "green stoves" into the northern Kivu district. The stoves use an innovative technology that uses readily-available dry agricultural and domestic waste such as harvest residues from cereals, pulses and oil palms, and saw dust, while exhausting smoke outside the home. The project will train 60 local craftsmen in green stove construction, and produce 1,500 stoves in the first 18 months. In addition, 30 green stove businesses will be established through targeted microfinance. MADAGASCAR Pioneering Sanitation Technologies in Madagascar Funding Requested: $196,126 Team Leader: Marianathan Silvesther saniteck@yahoo.com Sector: Sanitation Objective: To improve sanitation in Madagascar by piloting local production of affordable sanitary appliances made from local resources. Rationale: About 82% of Madagascar's population, or 14m, do not have access to proper sanitation. Currently, sanitation products are imported and are too expensive for the average household. Because household latrines are a cultural taboo in Madagascar, few organisations have attempted to work in the sanitation sector. Innovation/expected results: This project sets up local production of sanitation equipment to make sanitation products significantly more affordable for millions of Madagascans. The SaniTec organisation has developed several new sanitation products tailored specifically to the local culture in Madagascar, including water-saving toilets, low-cost septic septic /sep·tic/ (sep´tik) pertaining to sepsis. sep·tic adj. 1. Of, relating to, having the nature of, or affected by sepsis. 2. systems, and water filters. The project team plans to produce 9,000 units in its first year and 36,000 units in the second year, benefiting a community up to 180,000 people in the Toamasina region. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BURKINA FASO Burkina Faso (burkē`nə fä`sō), republic (2005 est. pop. 13,925,000), 105,869 sq mi (274,200 sq km), W Africa. It borders on Mali in the west and north, on Niger in the northeast, on Benin in the southeast, and on Togo, Ghana, and Rural Food Processing Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. The food processing industry utilises these processes. Unit Funding Requested: $200,000 Team Leader: William Ilboudo isomet@zcp.bf Sector: Energy Objective: To increase incomes and promote food security in rural Burkina Faso by developing affordable technologies that use renewable solar and biomass energy to add value to processed agricultural products and make them available year-round. Rationale: Due to a lack of reliable and competitive energy sources in Burkina Faso, processing of agricultural products remains at the cottage industry cottage industry: see sweating system. stage, particularly in rural areas. This results in high inefficiencies and considerable production losses. Innovation/expected results: This project combines simple, proven, and low-cost energy and food-processing technologies to build a food processing unit that runs on a combination of solar thermal energy Solar thermal energy is a technology for harnessing solar energy for practical applications from solar heating to electrical power generation. Solar thermal collectors, such as solar hot water panels, are commonly used to generate solar hot water for domestic and light industrial and biomass combustion. With this unit, farmers can produce value-added agricultural products like dried mangos and mango mango (măng`gō), evergreen tree of the Anacardiaceae (sumac family), native to tropical E Asia and now grown in both hemispheres. The chief species, Mangifera indica, is believed to have been cultivated for about 6,000 years. juice. At full capacity, the unit will produce 45,000kg of dried mango and 517,106 litres of mango juice annually. Compared to raw mango sales, the sales of these value-added products would increase the earnings of each farmer by US$57 per year. KENYA Fuel Substitution in Kenyan Prisons Funding Requested: $187,390 Team Leader: Wanjohi Daniel Macharia daniel.macharia@itpower.co.ke Sector: Energy Objective: To provide affordable and sustainable alternative energy resources for Kenyan prisons by introducing biogas bi·o·gas n. A mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by bacterial degradation of organic matter and used as a fuel. biogas Noun gaseous fuel produced by the fermentation of organic waste as a substitute for wood fuel. Rationale: Energy and sanitation resources are especially strained in Kenyan prisons, as facilities meant for only 18,000 people currently house roughly 14,000 staff and over 50,000 inmates. Wood is the dominant energy source in the prison system, not only contributing to Kenya's severe deforestation but also compromising the health of the prisoners and staff. At the same time, large amounts of human waste are generated daily in the prison facilities causing occasional outbreaks of disease. Innovation/expected results: The project proposes mainstreaming biogas as an alternative fuel source in Kenyan prisons and building prison capacity to adopt the technology. One model project, in Kenya's largest jail, will demonstrate that its human resource and fuel source capacity will enable widespread adoption. Over 4,000 inmates and staff will directly benefit from the project. The model waste-to-energy system will be built by prisoners given training under expert guidance, equipping them with valuable on-site and post-correctional skills. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LESOTHO Solar-Thermal Power for Rural Villages in Lesotho Funding Requested: $129,530 Team Leader: Matthew Orosz mso@mit.edu Sector: Energy Objective: To improve the lives of Basotho people in rural communities by using innovative solar micro-generator technology to provide an affordable and renewable source of electricity to encourage regional manufacture. Rationale: Less than 10% of the population is connected to the energy grid, and extensions to rural villages are estimated to cost over $1,000/household in a nation with a per capita [Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals. GDP GDP (guanosine diphosphate): see guanine. of $3,300. Unsustainable harvesting of wood fuel has contributed to massive land degradation The causes of land degradation are mainly anthropogenic and agriculture related. The major causes include:
Innovation/expected: This project promotes a pioneering version of proven renewable energy Renewable energy utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, and hydroelectricity to biomass and biofuels for transportation. technology (concentrated solar thermal power), which can be manufactured locally. The technology combines solar thermal power with a unique micro-scale generator adapted and scaled to suit the needs of underserved communities in Lesotho. It is rugged and simple to construct, uses cheap and widely available automotive parts for components, operates on simple mechanical principles, and can provide sustainable and cost-effective electricity, hot water and refrigeration refrigeration, process for drawing heat from substances to lower their temperature, often for purposes of preservation. Refrigeration in its modern, portable form also depends on insulating materials that are thin yet effective. off the grid. The systems will be disseminated with a market-based approach: mobilising local entrepreneurship using micro-credit lending. ETHIOPIA Improving Access to Safe Water in Yerer Watershed Funding Requested: $119,615 Team Leader: Assefa Gizaw Meka asse_gi@yahoo.com Sector: Water Supply Objective: To improve access to safe water in Yerer watershed by creating employment opportunities for youth, the main cause of deforestation. Rationale: A spring is the main source of drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. for over 500 people and 2,000 livestock in the region. The spring, however, is losing its yield and failing to provide enough water for the growing population due to deforestation and land degradation. In addition the quality of spring water is far below the global drinking water standard. Innovation/expected results: The project targets the source of deforestation by creating employment for youth in the watershed. Two hundred youths will be provided with two rock crushers A rock crusher is a machine designed to take large rocks as and reduce them to smaller rocks, gravel, or rock dust. Rock crushers produce aggregates and ready-to-process mining ores, as well as rock fill material for landscaping and erosion control. to mine and crush locally available rock outcrops, and Gesho seedlings, for planting on degraded hillsides and gullies. A youth association will be established to generate income by selling gravel and Gesho plants to surrounding towns. The project will also provide locally made water-filters for about 50 households to improve the spring's water quality. GHANA Pollutionless Waste-to-Energy Sanitary Facilities Funding Requested: $199,750 Team Leader: Coleman, Timothy tacoleman@mail.com Sector: Energy Objective: To provide severely distressed Ghanaian communities with modern, pollution-free sanitation facilities, from which electric energy and organic fertiliser can be derived. Rationale: Central Ghanaian towns such as Edina Essamang (population 20,000) face serious problems of poor sanitation, environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. , and energy deficiency. Public sanitary facilities are largely inadequate and are operated by outdated methods that pollute pol·lute v. 1. To make unfit for or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter; contaminate. 2. To make less suitable for an activity, especially by the introduction of unwanted factors. and degrade TO DEGRADE, DEGRADING. To, sink or lower a person in the estimation of the public. 2. As a man's character is of great importance to him, and it is his interest to retain the good opinion of all mankind, when he is a witness, he cannot be compelled to disclose the environment, spread disease, and threaten ecosystems. At the same time, the chronic energy deficiency consumes excessive amounts of forest wood for fuel, worsening wors·en tr. & intr.v. wors·ened, wors·en·ing, wors·ens To make or become worse. Noun 1. worsening - process of changing to an inferior state decline in quality, deterioration, declension land degradation. Innovation/expected results: The project will provide the communities of Edina Essamang with a unique solid-liquid waste treatment plant and 30 modern community toilets. These facilities will yield biogas to produce 23KW of electricity and 70,000[m.sup.3] of bio-fuel gas annually, leading to a reduction of the use of fire wood in the area by nearly 140 tons. Residues will be processed into competitively priced organic fertiliser, benefiting over 3,200 farmers annually. By using the $150,000 annual revenues to sustain project operations the process can be replicated in similarly afflicted af·flict tr.v. af·flict·ed, af·flict·ing, af·flicts To inflict grievous physical or mental suffering on. [Middle English afflighten, from afflight, locations throughout Ghana. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ZIMBABWE Pump Aid and Elephant Pump Funding Requested: $120,000 Team Leader: lan Thorpe Thorpe , James Francis Known as "Jim." 1888-1953. American athlete. An outstanding collegiate football player, he later played professional football and baseball. ianthorpe@pumpaid.org Sector: Water Supply Objective: To establish sustainable supplies of clean water along with improved sanitation for poor rural schools and villages in Zimbabwe. Rationale: The lack of access to clean water in poor rural schools and in many villages of Zimbabwe is a growing problem, due to the high cost of repair and a lack of spare parts Spare parts, also referred to as Service Parts is a term used to indicate extra parts available and in proximity to the mechanical item, such as a automobile, boat, engine, for which they might be used. Spare parts are also called “spares. . Together with poor sanitation, leading to school closures, exclusion of girls from classes (as they are sent to collect water) and also results in widespread disease. Shallow aquifers The following is a partial list of aquifers around the world. A of aquifers is also available. North America Canada
Innovation/expected results: This project uses an innovative technology developed by Pump Aid Zimbabwe called the Elephant Pump, costing just $500.00 (including drilling). The pump has proved itself sustainable since spare parts can be manufactured from waste materials found in any African homestead. This project will establish sustainable supplies of clean water. GUINEA Biogas Plant for the Conakry Slaughterhouse slaughterhouse: see abattoir; meatpacking. Funding Requested: $183,000 Team Leader: Fadiga Gaoussou santedura2007@yahoo.fr Sector: Sanitation Objective: To improve environmental conditions around the slaughterhouse in Conarkry by installing a biogas plant to recycle its waste and by training employees to better manage pollution. Rationale: The slaughterhouse in the city centre produces about 7.2 tons of waste a day. This waste is dumped directly into the sea and surrounding land making it a major source of environmental degradation and air pollution and an eyesore eye·sore n. Something, such as a distressed building, that is unpleasant or offensive to view. eyesore Noun something very ugly Noun 1. for the government, industrial, and diplomatic areas The Diplomatic Area (Arabic: المنطقة الدبلوماسية; transliterated: al-Mantiqah ad-Diblomasiyah) is a place in Manama, the capital city of Bahrain, an island kingdom in Persian it occupies. Innovation/expected results: This project will install a biogas plant in the abattoir abattoir (ăb'ətwär`) [Fr.], building for butchering. The abattoir houses facilities to slaughter animals; dress, cut and inspect meats; and refrigerate, cure, and manufacture byproducts. and train two current employees of the plant to manage it. By doing so, it will encourage slaughterhouse workers to take more ownership of community improvement. The recycled waste will produce an average of 23,000kwh of energy per day and 140 25kg bags of market-ready fertilizer to generate enough funds to maintain the plant. MALI Innovative Solar Energy solar energy, any form of energy radiated by the sun, including light, radio waves, and X rays, although the term usually refers to the visible light of the sun. Ice Production Process Funding Requested: $199,950 Team Leader: Henri-Alexis Corvol dev2idea@yahoo.fr Sector: Energy Objective: To increase incomes and improve hygiene by providing solar-powered ice production for fishing communities of Selingue river lake in Mali. Rationale: The high cost and uncertainty of electricity makes fish transportation and storage extremely difficult for the 7,000 fishermen in rural communities along the Selingue river lake, a major fishing area. Fishermen currently use local ice blocks that are expensive and produced in very low quantities long distances from the lake. Innovation/expected results: This pilot project uses new technology in solar radiation solar radiation, n the emission and diffusion of actinic rays from the sun. Overexposure may result in sunburn, keratosis, skin cancer, or lesions associated with photosensitivity. to provide a sustainable, on-site and low-cost cooling method. The pilot is designed to produce a ton of ice a day, giving fishermen higher prices of about 20% while spending only 3% more on ice supply. If successful, the project will be expanded to service some 7,000 fishermen in the area. |
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