Location of the 2 communities

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Mon 28 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

How close are the 2 communities?

Seems the application is more general than specific on the 2 projects identified (narrative is similar to the other application).

What is the current situation on the well? How old is it? Why does it need rehab? The photo does not clearly show the state. Are you just replacing the pump?

This project (and maybe all EP projects) should show primary focus sanitation, secondary drinking water.

Location of the 2 communities

By El Porvenir Posted on Wed 30 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Rajesh,

These two communities are in the same municipality, about 15-20km apart.

The photo, by the way, is the well in Calamidad, and was put in by UNICEF. It is working fine. The well to be rehabbed is in San Isidro. This is because the well does not have a rope pump and the well skirt and lid are deteriorated, allowing for contamination.

In a previous project, El Porvenir constructed 17 latrines in San Isidro. (and 7 for a nearby community that are actually part of San Isidro).

Rob

Some questions

By Safer Future Youth Development Project Posted on Thu 17 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

1. Can you please clarify the difference between the community agents and the portable water committe?
2. Are the portable water committee been organised together with the individual communities?
3. As for the aforestation which type of trees are going to be planted? are they of any economic value to the community and which method(s) will be put to prevent burning of the planted trees? (This is for the Nicaragua Project, 19 double pits& lanterin

Some questions

By El Porvenir Posted on Sat 19 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Dear Idriss,

Thanks for your questions. By the way, I would have to cordially disagree with you about a random survey of needs over a waiting for the community to approach us - our experience over the years has been that our approach works well, especially getting people connected to their project and taking ownership of it, contributing to the long term sustainability of it.

Now to your questions:

1. In each community we identify 2 volunteers to become agents. Usually at least one of them is also a member of the PWC. The other, if not a member of the PWC (although they may be), is often the existing health brigadista in the community. This is a person that has been trained in basic first aid and some health topics by the Ministry of Health. This gives them a head start on the sanitation themes we will be asking them to reproduce.
2. There is a PWC organised in each community. Often there is an existing community committee, although it may not have a potable water focus. Sometimes it is a committee organized out of the municipality. Sometimes no committee exists, or the existing structures in place are not functioning, then our staff helps the community understand how they need to organise it. We organise the sweat labour for the project through the PWC.
3. We plant all native species to Nicaragua. Many are used for firewood and 2 in particular are precious hardwoods used in furniture and for export. The economic incentive is often more motivating for the community members than protecting their water source. Although we work hard in the education program to make that connection clear for them...
To prevent burning and cutting them down, we sign a contract with each reforester to not burn or cut in the plantation for at least 5 years. Although we have found that no trees have been cut down yet in any community plantations since the program started 9 years ago. For firewood, we encourage them to use branches and that if they do want to cut down any trees eventually, they should plant at least 10 trees to replace it.

Does that answer your questions?

Thanks,
Rob

Some questions

By Safer Future Youth Development Project Posted on Sat 19 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Thanks Rob.
Indeed you structures has been working well but i think it will also help if you can identify a village and conduct a survey on their actual needs so that those who does not know your programs or areas of intervention but are badly affected presumably can also have the opportunity to benefit from your project.
Also, for the burning protection of the trees, i would like to suggest that this be included in your regulations. Communities should ensure that a thorough fire belt should be made and maintained so that accidental fire from a passer-by smoker or from any other source could destroy the tree.
Thanks.

VIP latrine and cost

By Project Well Posted on Thu 24 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

As per last year's application ID# 78, the cost of 30 latrines that are being built in 2008 at Pena de café, the fund was USD8151. What type of latrines were included in that application? Why are the VIP latrines so expensive (each USD440) that actually puts up cost per person as high as USD64. And 89% of the budget is for project material. This fact is very new to me. I am not an expert on toilets but use of zinc as constructing material sounds expensive. Please elaborate this VIP type of toilet versus eco-san or septic tank toilets. By the cost it seems similar to septic tank toilets that are, in the rural areas in India, are affordable only by the middle to high class of people. 2. No project reports are uploaded yet. A few pictures of the past projects would help to score the current application.
Thank you.

VIP latrine and cost

By El Porvenir Posted on Sun 27 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Dear Meera,

Thanks for your question. I am sorry it was not made clear. The Peña de Café application was for single pit VIP latrines. La Calamidad here is for double pit VIP latrines - that is the reason for the difference. BPR was interested to support this experiment in sustainability here. The idea is that the second pit is not used, and when the first pit fills, the latrine house and bench can be moved to the second pit. When the second pit fills, the first pit will have lain fallow enough dig that it can be dug up and the switch made again, ad infinitum. Theoretically, the manure can be used as compost, although culturally in Nicaragua, this is unacceptable, so this is unlikely to occur in the short term, however, our education program will endeavour to convince people of the benefits of this compost.

The reason we use zinc for the houses is that it will last longer, especially if painted, which is what we encourage the users to do.

The advantage of the dual pit over eco-san, in theory, is that it requires less constant intervention from the user, which has been the reason for many eco-san projects failing here in Nicaragua. In the regions where we work, for the most part, there is generally not enough water available for a septic tank toilet. In any case, this is an experiment, we will let you know how the project goes.

The Peñas project is not yet up to date, but that project has completed, and I have not yet had time to update it. Soon, soon, I hope.

I hope this helps,
Rob

VIP latrine and cost : Thanks!!

By Project Well Posted on Tue 29 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Thanks Rob for the explanation on the difference between the types of toilets is such simple language and the reasons for implementing the VIP types. It does help a lot. Good Luck with uploading some pictures later. Meera

VIP latrine and cost

By Agua Para La Salud (APLS) Posted on Tue 29 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

A number of considerations would be important to take into consideration with Eco-San ( Composting Latrines). We have seen many such projects turn into very expensive tool sheds because of the low mean outside temperature that does not encourage composting and cultural norms against handling human waste in any form or maturity.

VIP latrine and cost

By El Porvenir Posted on Tue 29 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

100% agree with you there Lynn. However, we have some beach communities (on Lake Nicaragua) where a VIP just is not possible. so we are looking at those as a good place to experiment with the Ecosan, although we want to learn as much about it as possible, before we start. Low mean temperatures are not a problem where we are working... although it would be a nice problem to have, once in a while :-)

We are going to visit a successful Ecosan project in El Salvador next month to see how they made it work.

Rob

VIP latrine and cost

By Agua Para La Salud (APLS) Posted on Thu 31 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

I can understand fully the need for the ECO SAN style of latrine in high water table situations. My experience so far has been that people must be highly motivated to adopt this style of latrine and see a usefull product for their crops. How long will your educational project continue? Through one or more crop cycles?

VIP latrine and cost

By El Porvenir Posted on Thu 31 Jul 2008, almost 18 years ago

Lynn,

Our education program in the past is generally 1-2 years in each community. However, we are looking to a new train-the-trainer methodology that will train 2 local agents or educators to have our reach extend even beyond that initial period...

Rob