2019 EWB Challenge Brief Final PDF

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief WaterAid Timor-Leste

Introduction The 2019 EWB Challenge program delivery builds on a strong partnership between WaterAid Timor-Leste and Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB Australia). Values-alignment in strategy and approach has enabled WaterAid and EWB Australia to collaborate across countries and programs since 2013. This year’s EWB Challenge design brief focuses on WaterAid’s work with communities across Suco Holarua, in the Manufahi District of Timor-Leste. Suco Holarua, along with much of Timor-Leste, has recently seen significant improvements in areas such energy access, water supply, and road networks. While coverage is not yet comprehensive, these initial infrastructure improvements are enabling an increase in community opportunity, sustainability, and well-being, as well as the inclusion of all individuals in project planning and outcomes. The 2019 EWB Challenge projects and supporting resources were developed by EWB and WaterAid through engagement with staff from WaterAid and local implementing partners, as well as Suco Holarua community representatives. Structured workshops explored topics such as community visions for future development, current local strengths and assets, and perceived barriers. Individual interviews and group discussions additionally focused on the perceived strengths of past and current projects in the area, and important considerations for future proposals. The distillation of these conversations is the 2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief – an outline of priority issues and opportunities as identified by residents of and those working in Suco Holarua.

You are encouraged to dive deep into the Timor-Leste context as you develop your design concept. Utilise all the resources available to you to immerse yourself in the local environment and culture, and to start to uncover the opportunities and challenges that will influence your proposal. By taking the time to understand your project context, you will develop an idea that is not only technically feasible, but appropriate and exciting for your stakeholders! The EWB Challenge is an open-ended learning experience, and thus the breadth and depth of design is left to individual universities and design teams to scope within the context of the submission requirements. Design ideas which consider links between the individual project areas listed in the design brief are welcome. All reports submitted to the EWB Challenge Program will be shared with WaterAid Timor-Leste and their implementing partners.

– Supported by –

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief

Contents

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EWB in Timor-Leste

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2

WaterAid in Timor-Leste

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3

Introduction to Timor-Leste

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4

Design Area 1: Water Access and Quality

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Design Area 2: Sanitation

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Design Area 3: Health and Hygiene

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Design Area 4: Digital Systems and Tools

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Design Area 5: Climate Resilience

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Design Area 6: Waste Management

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Design Area 7: Community-Led Infrastructure

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Design Considerations

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Further Resources

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief

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EWB in Timor-Leste EWB Australia has been operating in Timor-Leste since 2009 and has placed multiple technical field professionals in-country in partnership with various community organisations. Over the last few years, EWB Australia has grown a network of partners and collaborations that has rationalised EWB Australia creating programs in Timor-Leste with core focus in WASH sector and STEM Education and training sector. Currently EWB Australia focuses on the following key areas and project activities in Timor-Leste:

Feto Enginhera (Women in Engineering group) EWB Australia has recognised that by leveraging the existing networks within the sector in Timor-Leste, it can provide ongoing accessibility to hardest to reach and minority groups, such as supporting technical career pathways for women and people with disabilities. Since 2016, EWB Australia has been facilitating a program in Timor-Leste that specifically builds and supports pathways for women in engineering in collaboration with the Feto

Clean Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Enginhera group. The program’s objective is to ensure the local engineering sector has the skills and knowledge needed to address shortfalls in housing, energy, and sanitation. This is done through ensuring members of Feto Enginhera have access to training and

EWB Australia’s journey in Timor-Leste primarily started

mentoring as well as networking, internship, and scholarship opportunities.

with providing technical field professional placements. Most of these placements have focused on supporting the WASH sector.

Read more about Feto Enginhera, it’s inspiring activities, and the impact the group is having in the STEM sector in Timor-Leste.

WaterAid Timor-Leste and EWB Australia have partnered since 2013 on three field professional placements. The EWBWaterAid partnership also incorporates WaterAid Australia. Read more about EWB Australia's partnerships in Timor-Leste here.

Professional Skills Development Program It has been recognised that a lack of professional skills, access to appropriate high quality training, and practical application opportunities are major constraints to the sustainable development, effectiveness, and productivity of local organisations and their personnel in Timor-Leste. Furthermore, the recognised mid-level technical and vocational skills shortage in Timor-leste has prompted EWB Australia to broaden its impact from our traditional direct

STEM Education and Training

partner organisation capacity building model to influencing the sectors in which we work.

Incorporated into the STEM Education & Training theme are two ongoing projects - Professional Skills Development

The above recognition led EWB Australia to develop the Professional Skills Development program in Timor-Leste in 2015. The program

and Women in Engineering. EWB Australia has also worked in supporting curriculum development and the Centre for Employment and Professional Training (CNEFP) initiatives.

supports Timorese students and professionals to strengthen their professional and leadership skills to enable more effective application of technical skills. Technical skills that focuses on providing appropriate and sustainable community services and technical solutions.

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief

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WaterAid in Timor-Leste As WaterAid is a key stakeholder, EWB Challenge projects should reflect an understanding of the organisation’s approaches and values. Design proposals, from technical design to implementation mechanisms, should align with WaterAid’s values and take into account the key considerations outlined below.

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief

About WaterAid Vision A world where everyone, everywhere has safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

Strategic Priorities in Timor-Leste In Timor-Leste, WaterAid focusses its work on two specific districts: Liquiçá and Manufahi. They have technical advisers in both locations who help to build the capacity of partner

Mission

organisations. Being situated in the area also means they are better able to facilitate networks of partners, communities and local government to support access to water and sanitation, as they have

To transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

stronger relationships with the different stakeholders and a deeper understanding of the local context.

Values

The 2016 -2021 WaterAid Timor-Leste Country Strategy highlights key strategic intents for this timeframe, which are as follows:

Respect: We treat everyone with dignity and respect and champion the rights and contribution of all to achieve a fairer world.

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Championing WASH as a human right

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Strengthening municipal government

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Securing resources for WASH

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Promoting sanitation & hygiene behaviours

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Climate resilience

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Assessing performance

Accountability: We are accountable to those whose lives we hope to see transformed, to those we work with and to those who support us. Courage: We are bold and inspiring in our actions and words, and uncompromising in our determination to pursue our mission. Collaboration: We work with others to maximise our impact, respecting diversity and difference in the pursuit of common goals.

It’s worth looking at the main strategy document to clarify both the Innovation: We are creative and agile, always learning, and prepared to take risks to accelerate change. Integrity: We act with honesty and conviction and our actions are consistent with openness, equality and human rights.

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief

meaning and rationale for this set of intents, and you can consult the most recent annual review to get an idea of what has been working and areas which have been challenging.

WaterAid Approach WaterAid has specific ways of working which have been informed by over 30 years of experience working on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) across the globe. Core principles, approaches and focus areas which sit across the organisation, from project planning, system implementation, to advocacy with government. Strong EWB Challenge project proposals will consider the following cross-cutting themes: Local collaboration

Gender and Social Inclusion

WaterAid collaborate with local partners in all their program work.

WaterAid have a strong focus on inclusive design as evidenced by the school toilet block they installed in Same. Here there were

For example, in Timor-Leste, WaterAid program staff support the establishment of community water management committees called GMFs who maintain community water supply systems and flag needed repairs with government (read more in Design Area 1: Water Access and Quality). WaterAid works with partner organisations and community groups with the aim of building the capacity of local community members, local NGOs, and government to sustainably support universal access to water and sanitation. This capacity building aims to ensure that continued access to water is not dependent on

number of specific adaptations made to accommodate the different requirements of students. More broadly the work WaterAid does with communities when trying to achieve open defecation free status has explicit stages dedicated to tackling gender inequality, with an understanding that for access to water and sanitation to be truly equitable helping build sanitation and water facilities is not enough, the social norms that may prevent women and people with disabilities must also be addressed.

WaterAid and will be sustained when WaterAid eventually leaves a district or the country altogether. EWB Challenge design proposals should consider how WaterAid works, and how the system/device/ etc might be sustained by other stakeholders without continued

Best practice supporting evidence-based advocacy

reliance on WaterAid knowledge, time, money, or other resources.

globally is too big for individual NGOs and communities to tackle, or even the NGO community as a whole.

. WaterAid Timor-Leste have also acknowledged the critical role that local government and community members have played in helping Holarua be declared open-defecation free (ODF) in 2018.

Cross-sector collaboration While reading through the projects in this design brief, you will likely notice that many of the topic areas are inherently linked. WaterAid’s work in water, sanitation, and hygiene is often in collaboration with organisations who work in areas such as nutrition, family planning, climate change, livelihoods, etc. As an example of thinking about the wider system of your project and how this collaboration can have impact, think about the links between sanitation and nutrition - WaterAid and LBF work closely with the Hamutuk initiative, an network which focuses on nutrition outcomes and reducing stunting in children, because diarrhoeal disease from poor sanitation access is a major cause of stunting. Aligning initiatives and collaborating across sectors can lead to much stronger, more sustainable outcomes for communities.

A key principle at WaterAid is that the scale of WASH issues

As such the number of projects is less important than the potential for individual projects to support advocacy. A really strong best practice school latrine block for example can be used to advocate for the national government to commit to a policy of ensuring every school in the country has a similar inclusive and sustainable latrine block. The project demonstrates a best practice approach that can be scaled by government or private sector actors, while building the capacity of local government to build and maintain these facilities. The result is a smaller number of projects but each having an amplified impact much larger than that which can be achieve by WaterAid and its partners alone.

Rights-based approach This kind of advocacy is especially effective when combined with the rights-based approaches. These approaches involve the education of communities on their rights to affordable water and sanitation. As rights-bearers, they have the right petition duty bearers (government and private sector) to provide access to affordable safe water and sanitation. This creates a movement and demand for WASH, then WaterAid provides best practice approaches to enable governments and the private sector to fulfil their role as duty bearers. For more information on rights-based approaches read this paper.

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief

To Learn More WaterAid Timor-Leste Country Strategy 2016-2021 WaterAid Australia blog, August 16th 2018: Timor-Leste Government make clean water and decent toilets a top priority WaterAid 2011 position paper on inclusive design in Timor 2010 report on disability in Timor OpEd in ‘AIGA Eye on Design’: What We’re Leaving Out of the Discussion Around Inclusive Design by Kat Holmes, April 28th 2018 Inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals WaterAid Guidelines - Embedding and integrating a human rights-based approach

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief

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Introduction to Timor-Leste Background Capital

Dili

Population

Estd 1.3 million in 2018

Density

89.02 people per km

Progress

WaterAid works primarily in two districts of Timor-Leste – Manufahi and Liquica. The 2019 EWB Challenge projects and content focus on WaterAid’s work in Suco Holarua, which sits within the postu administrativo of Same in Manufahi district.

Relatively fast progress against MDGs and SDGs since independence

Governance

Focus Area: Suco Holarua

Governance structure comprised of 13 municipalities, 65 administrative posts, 442 sucos, and 2,225 aldeias

. Within Suco Holarua are 13 aldeias, each with a Xefe and Delegado/a who represent their community in public forums and in decisionmaking. There is also an elected Xefe of Suco Holarua itself, who leads this group. Of the 43 people in the Suco governance structure in 2018, 14 were women. Learn more about Suco Holarua from the eyes of the aldeia representatives.

Glossary Tetun terms used throughout the EWB Challenge Design Brief. Aldeia

Sub-village/hamlet

Suco

Village

Xefe

Head or chief

Delegado

Councillors - Aldeia representatives supporting the Xefe Suco.

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2019 EWB Challenge Design Brief

The resources on the EWB Challenge website and project opportunities listed have been informed by knowledge from the Xefes and Delegados/as through workshops and interviews.

Education system considerations

In Holarua, the

In EWB Challenge scoping workshops with both partner

equipment. Additionally, the links between energy access and water provision are important to consider in the Timor-Leste

or small construction organisation staff and community representatives, participants noted that the education system in Holarua has seen recent improvements. In particular, the construction of new schools where there were not ones before means that there are now schools closer to where children live and attendance has increased in line with this increase in accessibility. Suco Holarua has free primary school, pre-secondary school, and secondary school. Some students in Holarua will also go on to university. The school described in the EWB Challenge resources is pre-secondary, meaning it caters to ages 12 to 17 with about 40 students per class. Classes run Monday - Saturday until 1:30pm. Across Timor-Leste, many schools will coordinate attendance into two sessions so students attend classes in either the morning

context - design options such as gravity flow or ram pumps do not rely on electricity to move water from place to place. , which is collected from the surrounding environment and, in the wet season, stored in the home to stay dry.

Transportation considerations Another significant area of focus with regard to infrastructure development has been transportation networks, particularly the improvement of existing roads and construction of new ones.

or afternoon.

These efforts are very visible in Manufahi district, which itself is now better connected to the capital city, Dili, via a recently rebuilt

Energy considerations

tarmac road. Since the new road was constructed, travel time between Dili and Same has reduced from approximately 8 bumpy hours in a bus (or 6 in a car) to approximately 4.

Part 3 of the Timor-Leste Strategic Development Plan 2011 - 2030 outlines the recent state of the country’s infrastructure network and commitments to priority areas of investment.

While larger towns are increasingly connected to roads, Timor-

“Timor-Leste currently lacks the core infrastructure necessary to support a modern and productive country in which its people are connected with each other and with the world. A central pillar of the Strategic Development Plan is the building and maintenance of core and productive infrastructure.”

. In EWB Challenge scoping workshops, participants noted there have been significant improvements to electricity infrastructure over the past two years, and estimated that . Access is through a centralised credit purchase scheme, wherein residents can purchase electricity credit via a voucher (much like mobile phone credit) and enter the voucher code into their household meter.

Leste is a mountainous country with difficult terrain and many communities are still only accessible by foot. For example, photos of the community of Mankaet in the mountains of Holarua will help you visualise what travel in a more remote community which is only accessible by walking track might look like. Across the differen...