Provide Africa

About PROVIDE project

The rapidly growing urban centres in Africa are facing major problems in clean water, sanitation and solid waste management, as also has been acknowledged in formulating the Millenium Development Goals. UN-Habitat has identified the Lake Victoria region as a priority area in achieving the Millennium Development Goals of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015.

The PROVIDE program focuses on and contributes to the improvement of sanitation and solid waste management in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) with an emphasis on the Lake Victoria Region. The program has started in 2006, and is funded by INREF, Wageningen University.

The academic research program is closely linked to a wide network of international agencies, national policy-makers, local municipalities, NGOs, CBOs and private enterprises. It aims to develop the knowledge base and the relevant networks for developing and applying an integrated approach – labeled modernized mixtures approach.

Access of the (urban) poor to viable and robust environmental infrastructures for the provision of water, sanitation and waste-services, should be regarded as key-issue for realizing the goal of sustainable development.

Study Environmental Governance at the Environmental Policy Group

The Environmental Policy Group has launched a new website about studying environmental governance at Wageningen University.
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Lessons Learnt from the Sanitation Challenge Conference

- by Judith Tukahirwa

The PROVIDE project was an active co-organiser of the Sanitation Challenge conference in Wageningen last May. The conference aimed at a scientific discussion on new sanitation concepts and techniques, together with models of governance and experiences from all over the world.

The latest sanitation conference organized – Sanitation Challenge 19-21 May 2008 – proved a success. With over 120 international experts from both the academic field and from practice, many state-of-the art technological innovations and socio-political progresses were reported and discussed. Led by reputed key-note speakers, the conference featured valuable presentations bringing case studies from both the developing and the developed world. The main sanitation challenges in both the Northern and the Southern hemisphere were brought forward by the visitors representing over twenty nations. The conference proved to be one of the main events of 2008 for tackling problems and offering solutions for African sanitation. For the proceedings and other details on the conference settings see the Sanitation Challenge site.

Just three days after the finishing of presentations and networking on the annual workshop (21-23 November, Kisumu), PROVIDE researchers could enjoy a further expansion of their network, this time on the ‘home’ front.
A Ugandan researcher of the PROVIDE group, Mesharch Katusiimeh has become the proud father of a baby girl. Named Provide Nyangi Katusiimeh (see photo), the baby was born on 26 November at 11:21 a.m.
Both the mother and the daughter are in good health.

Annual PROVIDE workshop successfully completed

The annual PROVIDE workshop - this year in Kisumu, Kenya - was successfully completed last week. The workshop centered around the problem of urban run-off and discharge into Lake Victoria. The event was situated on the shore of Lake Victoria, at the Sunset Hotel in Kisumu. On 21-23 of November, the run-off problem was discussed with the help of guest speakers and representatives of the local municipality and NGOs. Also, the scientific progress of PROVIDE researchers was evaluated during the meeting. Photo's of the workshop can be viewed here.