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"A clay oven is any hollow, dome-shaped structure constructed out of clay, clay and sand or clay and straw, used for the purpose of baking and roasting food. It has a brick floor and usually a chimney. Most traditional clay ovens are built outdoors and may or may not be covered with a simple roof structure. You will find some amazing examples of clay ovens, particularly huge pizza and bread ovens, built inside restaurants. The oven I have built is much smaller but still suitable for cooking for large groups of people."

"Efficient burning; the heating of a cob bench ( that makes you feel so good ); the sculptural shapes. Nothing so far as amazing as this… Your tea doesn’t get cold!"

The governments of Kenya and Uganda highlighted their readiness to speed up the construction of the Kenya-Uganda railway line.

The PM also took issue with the timing for the project which states that the construction should be complete by 2017.  Indicating the fact that the railway constructors took five years to reach Kisumu from Mombasa in 1896, Mr Odinga said: “At this age and era of technology, it should take us less than three years to reach Kampala”.

He maintained that the move will unlock the East African countries potential which is currently being hampered by poor transport systems.

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"FINCA International provides financial services to the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living. We target the poorest of the working poor: those who have the least access to services such as loans, savings programs, and insurance."

Waste newsletter November 2008

• ISSUE programme update: Malawi’s approach
• News from WASTE
• Leaving Karin Bezemer
• 25 years anniversary, partner discussion
• New WASTE Board members
• New interns: Shoky, Sandy, Joseph
• ASKNET working event - Africa beyond the year of Sanitation
• Business Plan Writing workshop
• WASTE in parliament
• PUBLICATIONS

ISSUE programme update: Malawi’s approach

The ISSUE 2 programme is a follow-up of the ISSUE programme. The
programme will run until 2010 and is set up to facilitate the
realisation of improved sanitation and waste management in 15 districts.
Countries where ISSUE 2 is active are: Nicaragua, Surinam, Peru, Costa
Rica, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mali, Benin,
Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Malawi.

In Malawi CCODE has decided to use a different approach from the
Consortium Approach done in other ISSUE 2 partners, following a review
from Siku Nkhoma on the matter.

When WASTE partnered up with CCODE in Malawi for the ISSUE-2 programme,
CCODE was already working on water and sanitation projects in the
communities. A lot of time has been spent on merging the two ways of
working into a workable solution. CCODE was not very happy to take place
in a consortium, while the ISSUE programme is very much in favour with
it.

The Malawian organisation felt that taking place in a consortium in
their district would hinder their existing activities, moreover the
stakeholders who were approached to join the consortium backed off when
they realised that the ISSUE programme would not finance the actual
implementation of the services directly.

CCODE decided to keep itself out of the Consortium, but to continue
working with the existing partnerships thus letting them form a
Consortium, which is working in policy formulation and advocacy. CCODE
has kept the role of implementer as they feel most comfortably with this
role. In addition they feel that this approach makes the whole financial
process more transparent for the groups involved. The communities have a
water and sanitation committee in which the local government also
participate. It is interesting to see how this alternative approach will
work out for the ISSUE-2 programme.


News from WASTE

Departing staff member: Karin Bezemer.
In the beginning of October our Office Manager Karin Bezemer has left
our organisation to work for another organisation, Adessium Foundation,
located near Gouda in Reeuwijk. We are very sorry to have to say goodbye
to her. For many people she was the first person they met when visiting
WASTE. She has worked with WASTE for 7 years and has taken care of a
wide variety of tasks within our organisation and we will miss her. But
we also understand the wish of Karin to broaden her horizons and wish
her all the best in her new and challenging job.

25 year anniversary WASTE: discussion partnerships
WASTE is celebrating its 25th anniversary and is organising a
activities around subjects of interest to the organisation. The first
activity was around the partners and WASTE.

In larger projects and programmes WASTE works with local organisations
who we call partners. Some partners already work with WASTE for more
than 10 years, others are new contacts. The discussion was meant to get
a clearer picture on how the partners see this partnership.

• What do they expect from WASTE
• What can WASTE expect from them?

The discussion wasset up as a three-week email discussion and a chat session at the end of the week. The results will be discussed further within WASTE and
hopefully result in a clearer idea on how to work with partners on an
equal basis and learn from each other in the field of  sanitation, waste
management and capacity building.

Changes on the board of WASTE.
After more than five years, Wim Van Leeuwen and, Sjef Langeveld
announced that they wanted to step down from the Board of WASTE. WASTE
is deeply grateful to them as they accepted the position as board member
at a moment that WASTE was going through a difficult time. With their
advice and input WASTE is now doing well and we are very grateful for
their dedication and time.

Luckily we have found three new capable board members. Martijn de Groot is our new treasurer and has a lot of experience in project funding in development. The second new board member is Paul van Koppen who as former director of IRC is a very knowledgeable expert on water and sanitation. The third board member is
Varina Tjon A Ten, a former MP from the Labour Party specialised in ODA.
The president of the board, André Frijters, will not be stepping down.
At this moment we are still looking for a fifth board member to complete
the Board.

During the writing of this email bulletin we received the sad news that
Wim van Leeuwen has passed away. We deeply regret to inform you that Wim
van Leeuwen, WASTE’s ex-treasurer has suddenly died in Rome, aged 59,
on 18th November. We like to remember Wim as a most devoted member of
our board, (rightly) critical and with a deep feeling of personal
responsibility. Our thoughts are with his family.


New Interns: Shoky, Sandy and Joseph
The last two months, WASTE has said hello to three interns. Shoky
Malepe has been with us for a short internship under the Presidency
programme funded by the EVD, Netherlands. During her stay she has been
working on the logistics of ecological sanitation, which was fitting
within the framework of her work in South Africa with the Ministry of
Water Affairs and Sanitation. She has left us already

We also welcomed Sandy Persaud who will be with WASTE for nearly 8
months, combining classes with on the job experience working in the
library and in office management. She is following an education to
become an office manager at the polytechnic in Gouda.

Only recently Joseph Denchukwu has arrived. Joseph comes from Nigeria
and is studying at the Techische Universität Berlin Germany for his
Master’s on Urban Management. At WASTE he will be doing a research for
ISSUE 2 on the private informal sector at the micro and small enterprise
level in solid waste management, with a special focus on micro
collectors, small junk shops, and micro reuse and service businesses.

The study will take place in Kenya and Joseph will be supporting
Practical Action Kenya in the analysis of the solid waste system in the
city of Nakuru. The analysis will, together with the Rosa baseline
document, fill the gaps on solid waste system information.

Vacancy at WASTE  (32-36 hours per week)
WASTE has a vacancy for a Financial/ Business Adviser for challenging
projects (32-36 hours per week. His/ her tasks will be to:

• Advise and support utilities, municipalities and private entrepreneurs in Southern cities to enable them to develop, formulateand present bankable sanitation and solid waste management projects to potential investors.
• Engage in and support dialogues between relevant stakeholders in sanitation and solid waste service provision.
• Assist programme/stakeholder consortia in countries where WASTE is active in order to develop sanitation and solid waste management projects for investment.
• To facilitate/advise local advisers and project managers in African countries who explore local sustainable financing opportunities for sanitation and solid waste management projects.
• To be an active participant in international discussions about development finance in general, and sanitation and solid waste management projects in particular.

More information can be found on the website: www.waste.nl. The deadline for the application is 19 December.

ASKNET working event - Africa beyond the year of Sanitation.
ASKNET, the African Sanitation Knowledge Network is organising a 4-day
workshop in Mozambique. All academic and professionals working in
sanitation in Africa and wanting to continue the mainstreaming of
sanitation are invited to come and exchange information and learn about
new concepts on sanitation, and about Problem Based Learning principles
for training in sanitation and the like.

WASTE being active in the programmes Spa, Rosa and ISSUE-2 will also be
present and Gert de Bruijne will be leading the discussion forum on
Project Management in Sanitation

The event will take place from 10 - 13 December 2008 in Vilanculos,
Mozambique More information and an application form can be found on
www.asknet-office.net

Business Plan Writing workshop
How can you write a business plan for public service provision such as
sanitation?

This question was the central theme at the 4-day business-plan-writing
workshop, which was held as a side meeting during the ROSA meeting in
October 2008 in Nakuru, Kenya.

Two different teams from Arba Minch in Ethiopia and Nakuru in Kenya
were present to learn and apply the Business Plan methodology from the
private sector to their municipal mandate to provide sanitation. This
approach truly is a paradigm shift away from traditional donor funding
as it requires the participants to think in terms of customers, revenue
and cost and how all these elements will generate enough cash flow to
repay the loans and pay for Operation & Maintenance.

The theory of business planning has been applied in several exercises
to help the participants in applying the tools to their own business
plan. The two teams left the training session with a wealth of knowledge
and tools how to write a business plan. In addition various resource
materials have been provided to assist the teams in their future
endeavours.

WASTE in parliament
A meeting from our Dutch Labour MP Mrs. Chantal Gill’ard to WASTE in
September, resulted in a round-table meeting, in the Netherlands Lower
Chamber of Parliament, with a number of key players from the Netherlands
development community and commercial banking sector on innovative
financing of development efforts on the 9th October.

The theme of the meeting was: ‘The use of ODA (Official Development
Assistance) funds to structurally mobilise local resources for
development finance through partnerships with local financial
institutions’.

The exchange of experiences with innovative financing mechanisms came
at a time when efficiency and effectiveness of ODA are subject of
increasing public debate in the Netherlands and elsewhere. WASTE seeks
to bring the above ‘leverage’ principle into practice in a number of
projects and programmes. This is especially the case in our ISSUE-2
(Integrated Support for Sustainable Urban Environment) programme, the
SPA (Sanitation in Peri-Urban Areas in Africa) project in 5 African
cities, and the FINISH project in India, where cooperation with local
micro-insurance company TATA-AIG results in lower health insurance
premiums for those poor households purchasing improved sanitation
facilities through local micro-finance loans. In all these programmes
WASTE cooperates with the Netherlands banking sector, SNS-Reaal Water
Fund.

The lively exchange is likely to result in follow-up developments, as
several of the above aspects were relatively new, even to some key
players in development field in the Netherlands.

PUBLICATIONS
Many of WASTE publications have been made accessible electronically,
through the WASTE website: www.waste.nl or can be requested to be
emailed via webmaster@waste.nl. Due to renewal of the website not all
publications can be found on the website yet. The digital documents are
free of charge. For hard copies we have to charge for the copy and
sending costs.

Topics covered, are:
-Organic waste and compost
-Plastic waste
-Rubber waste
-Hazardous waste
-Micro and small enterprises in waste management
-Excreta collection
-Sustainable Sanitation
-Urban agriculture
-Occupational health aspects in waste collection and recycling
-Community participation
-Sustainable wastewater treatment
-Hospital waste management
-Separation at source
-Ship and port waste
-Battery recycling
-Integrated Sustainable Waste Management

For any orders and/or a copy of the publication list, please contact
WASTE (direct e-mail: vdevreede@waste.nl) or visit www.waste.nl. For
full address, see the beginning of this bulletin.

"Wat betekent de kredietcrisis voor arme landen?"

"African youths are gathering in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to brainstorm and provide recommendations on how best the continent should be developed. The Danish government is providing the platform for 60 participants through its African Commission."

"Katine is much more high profile than other development efforts in the region. The Guardian’s partnership with Amref has raised its status and Katine feels quite different from other development projects."

"South African FNB customers registered for cell phone banking can now buy prepaid airtime for relatives and friends in Namibia. The service allows SA customers to purchase and instantly send prepaid airtime to the cell phone of someone based in Namibia. It is the first SA bank to offer this service."

"Minister voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking Bert Koenders stapt in de zonne-energie. De PvdA-bewindsman ondertekent maandagmiddag een samenwerkingsovereenkomst met energiebedrijf Nuon en de Foundation Rural Energy Services voor het aanbieden van duurzame energie in Afrika."

"Uganda and Kenya have agreed to set up a joint ministerial commission to expedite the construction of a railway line that links the two East African countries to Southern Sudan and Eastern Congo."

"Farmers in South Africa are using cellphone-based technology to help decide when to irrigate crops. Indications are that the mobile-based initiative can reduce farmers’ irrigation costs by approximately €200/ha. The system, called My Canesim, uses automatic weather stations, the Internet and cellular technology to produce information about when to irrigate. Extrapolating information from real-time environmental data, My Canesim estimates the recent, current and future water balance, as well as the crop status and projected yield of a given plot. It then automatically generates and distributes simple irrigation advice by SMS to farmers’ mobile phones."

"many development groups and businesses are now focusing on developing native talent rather than exporting it in. The reason for this is that in general, native workers are more committed to their country in the long-run, know the local social/business networks better, and are more accustomed to the local operating environment."

"The Guardian’s Katine project is a unique attempt to track a development project by reporting it over a long period and by using the full range of media. It is coming up to a year since the project was launched, so this is a good time to see how effective the media components have been so far."