Skat News - February 2006
Newsletter of Skat - Swiss Resource Centre and Consultancies for Development
Dear Friends and Partners,
The electronic newsletter of Skat is sent to you approximately three times each year. Skat News provides you with brief summaries of recent and ongoing projects, links you to further information and documents, and provides you with a relevant contact address. Your feedback is very welcome. Please send it to mailto:news@skat.ch
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Skat Projects and Activities
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>>> CWG-WASH Workshop 2006 - Solid Waste, health and the Millennium Development Goals, Kolkata India, 1 - 5 February 2006 <<<
The Collaborative Working Group on solid waste management in low- and middle-income countries (CWG) is an informal group of people and organisations interested in improving standards of solid waste management in developing countries. The CWG organises international workshops and seeks to promote initiatives in solid waste management that are directed towards improved environmental and public health conditions.
The Group includes a wide range of interests and representations, but it has no formal membership, apart from a loosely-structured core planning group and a Secretariat. The CWG so far has organised seven international workshops on various themes related to solid waste management in low- and middle- income countries. Reports of these workshops are available from Skat.
Following the decision of a consultative process within CWG during 2004/05 the most recent workshop was organised in collaboration with WASH and held in Kolkata, India between 1st and 5th February 2006. Its aim was to explore and demonstrate the importance of improved solid waste management in the context of improved living conditions and livelihoods, and thus the role of SWM in the present struggle to attain the Millennium Development Goals.
The workshop brought together more than 80 participants from over 30 nations in the South and North, who came to learn about the part that improved SWM can play in the achievement of the MDGs and to develop means of alerting decision-makers to the benefits of good SWM services.
During presentations, plenary discussions, debates and working groups participants were given the opportunity to exchange ideas about recent experiences in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and to learn lessons from these experiences. In addition, proposals were developed for the development and future activities of the CWG.
The final product of this successful workshop will be a publication that can be used as a valuable source of guidance by people who are interested in developing and sustaining waste management systems that can contribute to the achievement of the MDGs. For further information please contact mailto:juerg.christen@skat.ch or mailto:jonathan.hecke@skat.ch
>>> SBAM - Sustainable Building Assessment Method <<<
The Sustainable Building Assessment Method - SBAM (formerly SBET Sustainable Building Evaluation Tool) was designed by Skat together with Development Alternatives (Delhi) between 2001 and 2005 through a series of participatory workshops held in India, Cuba, and South Africa. The on-line application of SBAM was developed by Neeti Solutions (Pune).
The most recent workshop took place in Auroville (South India) last October with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). A diverse group of 32 participants from India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia came together to learn from the process of participatory indicators development.
As a result, participants were able to assess the impact of current building practices in post Tsunami reconstruction initiatives. They used indicator sets that were clustered according to different criteria, encompassing environmental, economic, social, institutional, and organisational aspects of sustainable development processes.
By using not only quantitative, but also qualitative indicators, stakeholders could understand better the whys of project situations and the extent of sustainability of the outcomes. Thus stakeholders, in particular donor agencies and project managers, are able to develop effective solutions for adaptation or other alternatives. For further information please contact mailto:claudia.schneider@skat.ch
>>> VSBK - Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln technology transfer to Afghanistan <<<
In November/ December 2005 Skat carried out a feasibility study to assess the existing brick production industry in Afghanistan. This was funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Skat, together with consultants of Development Alternatives (Delhi) and a local Afghan team, assessed technical, environmental, economic, social, and institutional aspects. The assessment confirms the need for substantial improvements, in particular in terms of environmental aspects, as existing kilns are fired with tyres and scarcely available wood.
Based on this, the study highlights the potential to transform the existing brick making technology into the environmentally friendly VSBK Technology and identifies areas of improvement based on social criteria.
Skat is currently developing a strategy for transferring an effective and efficient Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln technology to Afghanistan. For further information please contact mailto:karl.wehrle@skat.ch or mailto:claudia.schneider@skat.ch
>>> Mobility and Health International Networked Research Programme <<<
The significant contribution of transport and mobility to the livelihoods of poor people is widely recognized. However, the development sector is yet to fully acknowledge and understand the role of transport in improving poor peoples health. In the context of the Millennium Development Goals, a better understanding of the relationship between mobility and health becomes a priority.
A workshop was held in Bern in November 2004. This was organised by Skat and Transnet (the network of Swiss professionals working in the transport sector in developing countries), in collaboration with the International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (IFRTD), the Swiss Centre of International Health (SCIH) and with support from the Mobility and Health desks of the Social Development Division of SDC. The workshop brought together transport and health specialists who agreed that in order to optimise the health potentials of activities that improve mobility, the sector must thoroughly assess these gaps, make steps to share existing research, and generate new knowledge. Research on mobility and health has previously been focused on northern and high-income settings and on issues such as transport and safety, environmental health and the international diffusion of infections. There has been little research on issues relating to southern, low-income settings.
It is against this backdrop that SDCs mobility desk has agreed to support an initial phase of the IFRTD international networked research programme on mobility and health. The research programme, carried out in collaboration with SDC, Skat, and the SCIH, seeks to address the afore-mentioned knowledge gap via three key processes:
- Increasing understanding of the effect of mobility constraints on the health, well-being and livelihoods of poor people in different developing country contexts.
- Developing tools that will enable transport professionals to include holistic health impact assessments and mitigation measures in the planning, design and implementation of transport interventions.
- Developing an advocacy programme for the sensitisation of health sector workers to the relationship between mobility and health.
For further information please contact mailto:juerg.christen@skat.ch or mailto:roger.schmid@skat.ch and have a look at http://www.trans-web.ch/topics/mobility-health.htm
>>> Threads - Workshop on Management of International Networks for Knowledge Sharing
25th - 28th April 2006, St. Gallen, Switzerland <<<
The Skat Foundation and Helvetas, two Swiss NGOs, are organising a four-day workshop on the management of international networks related to knowledge sharing in development. This will take place between 25th and 28th April 2006 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The goal of the workshop is to bring together people involved with the management of international networks for knowledge sharing.
The workshop will provide space and time for addressing the day-to-day challenges that networking practitioners face, and for tapping into the collective expertise of the participants. The event will give an opportunity for network managers to share practical experiences, support colleagues and learn from each other.
The workshop is the first event of a new initiative of the Skat Foundation called Threads - a forum for improving management practice through sharing and learning. Threads complements existing initiatives through the promotion of knowledge sharing in development. Threads will collaborate closely with existing networks.
More information about the workshop, including the pre-registration, form is available on the following website: http://www.skat-foundation.org . For enquiries please send an email to mailto:threads@skat.ch
>>> Latest issue of the KM4D Journal <<<
The third issue of the KM4D Journal addresses the topic "Understanding the role of culture in knowledge sharing: making the invisible visible". The latest issue includes a first product of the KM4Dev FAQ renewal project: a revised FAQ on cross-organisational knowledge sharing based on contributions by the KM4Dev community and compiled by Urs Karl Egger.
Take a look at the latest issue: http://www.km4dev.org/journal/index.php/km4dj/issue/current
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About Skat
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>>> New websites <<<
The Skat website has been redesigned and is now based on a content management system programmed with open source software (Plone CMS and Zope, Application Server). The website was developed together with 4teamwork GmbH (http://www.4teamwork.ch)
As Skat is involved in several networks we also have developed with Plone/Zope a basic website structure that can be easily adjusted to the corporate identity and specific needs of networks and installed in a day or two. So far, two networks have started to work with this website structure: the Rural Water Supply Network (http://www.rwsn.ch) and the Collaborative Working Group on Solid Waste Management (http://www.cwgnet.net). For further information about please send an email to mailto:urs.egger@skat.ch
Websites are never finished and can always be improved. Please send us your feedback or let us know if you face any problems with our new websites by sending an email to our webmaster Martin Läng: mailto:support@skat.ch
>>> New appointments <<<
We welcome three new staff members in the Skat team.
Claudia Schneider joined Skat in August 2005, as Sustainable Building and Settlement Development Specialist. She holds an MSc from the DPU (Development Planning Unit) UCL London, and in Architecture, TU München. She has 10 years of work experience as an advisor and project manager in the fields of urban development, urban governance and decentralisation, capacity building in urban planning, and the design and construction of dwellings, schools and industrial buildings. She has worked with bilateral and multilateral agencies in South-East Asia, Latin-America and Eastern Africa. Contact: mailto:claudia.schneider@skat.ch
Mark Damon Harvey joined Skat in September 2005 as a Knowledge Management Specialist. He has a background in international economics and business and worked for a couple of years as computer programmer and analyst. He has taught a wide range of courses, from applied didactics to computer literacy for the handicapped, and seminars on resourcing trans-cultural contexts. He has consulted in the fields of communication, project and knowledge management for more than 12 years. As a trained mediator, educator and technologist he draws his expertise from a trans-disciplinary combination of methodologies. Contact: mailto:mark.harvey@skat.ch
Jeremy Loveless joined our team of water and environmental sanitation specialists at the beginning of December 2005. He has 17 years of professional experience in water/sanitation and economic development. He has worked in development, emergency and recovery operations in Africa, Asia and Europe. He has managed multi-sector and specialised programmes, has led policy-making initiatives, has carried out field assessments and research and has taught development studies at university level. Contact: mailto:jeremy.loveless@skat.ch
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Skat Publications
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The Skat Foundation edits various publications in the fields of water supply and environmental sanitation, waste management, sustainable building and settlement development, and transport and mobility. Browse through our list of publications on our website: http://www.skat-foundation.org/publications . For any enquiries please send an email to mailto:publications@skat.ch
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Impressum
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Skat, Vadianstrasse 42, CH-9000 St.Gallen, Switzerland
phone +41 71 228 54 54, fax +41 71 228 54 55, email mailto:info@skat.ch, web http://www.skat.ch
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