Visit to Arusha

For all those following, I've been working with a group of people in the Engineers Without Borders organization on implementing some project ideas in Tanzania. Originally, we were looking at the Masaai tribe as our target market mainly because we had a connection with a local non profit there. As we progressed, we were put in communication with the Tanzanian government, specifically the Vice President and Minister of Environment and would be given endorsement if we could target our potential projects in the Dodoma district of Tanzania. Our group is currently concluding our trip there and below are some of the notes taken from the visit to Arusha on July 8th, 2011. It's pretty long.


Met Tayeb Noorbhai, Renewable Energy advisor, SNV. He is a development professional with a deep
understanding of development issues. Also Flora ?, who just joined SNV one week ago and will be
working with Tayeb. She just listened. Both are Tanzanian nationals. Peter Bos and Tom Ole Sikar,
other SNV professionals, were away. SNV is the largest Dutch NGO; however, it is independent from the Dutch government.


SNV has a history of working in Tanzania for over 40 years, on a variety of different projects, most of
them based on improving agriculture. SNV is currently concentrating on 3 areas in Tanzania: agriculture,renewable energy, and hygiene. SNV is presently working to identify the ‘value chain’ for agriculture.
They advise and work through CAMARTEC, and CAMARTEC works through regional organizations,
including KAMA in Monduli and MIGESADO in Dodoma. SNV is doing an Evergy Baseline survey (sources of energy used today, covering 300+ households) and will do a Biogas User survey. The reports will be available to us.


Four years ago,SNV began a Biogas Africa project, the ABPP (African Biogas Partner Program), following success in the Biogas Asia project – a 20 year history of working in Nepal and Vietnam. The Biogas Africa project was launched in 6 countries, including Tanzania, in 2009 and 2010. In Tanzania, this consists of support for the Tanzania Domestic Biogas Program (TDBP or TBP), which is managed by CAMARTEC [ if I understood the connections connectly]. ‘Domestic’ means ‘for one household’: they are not working on biogas plants for institutions (schools, hospitals, prisons). In addition to the TDBP, SNV works with the Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO), which has an office in every district and TAREA, the Tanzania Renewable Energy Association,based in Dar es Salaam.


CAMARTEC has existed since the 80’s, as a para-statal organization devoted to mechanization of
agriculture and rural technology. They previously worked with a German Development organization,
GTZ, to develop the fixed dome model of a biogas digestor. They mainly do research: they have
developed good technologies, but not done much commercialization of them. They provided very
little “after sales support” for digestors which they installed, which were mainly built at schools and
hospitals. Therefore, although biogas currently exists in Tanzania, it is often seen as an “elite” status
symbol.


Under the current structure of the TDBP, the main CAMARTEC/TDBP offices work with local area NGO partners across Tanzania. These include Tanzanian organizations, churches, and other foreign NGOs. KAMA (based in Monduli) and MIGESADO (based in Dodoma) are two of these organizations with local contacts, providing ‘extension’ services. They provide training for masons, technical assistance, and deliver subsidies to people interested in having biogas systems. The current subsidy for a household is Euro 190 per plant, which is about 20% of the cost (~800,000 TZ Shillings, or ~$500). Note that the rest of the cost is often covered by loans through saccos, local banks. Another one of the TDBP’s partners is OIKOS, an Italian NGO. They have specifically built “energy centers”, also known as Integrated Rural Energy Utilities (IREU), at the ward level (10000 - 40000 people), which help to train women to build stoves and masons to build biogas systems. Only two of these exist, both in the Northern part of the country – one is in Oldonyo Sambo, an hour north of Arusha, although we were not able to visit it. These were begun in South Africa, as a way of allowing rural communities to manage their own energy supplies (we should do some follow up research on the concept). Note that although this structure is similar to that which SNV has helped to set up in other countries, usually companies are used rather than NGO partners. However, SNV has found that Tanzanian masons are generally not very entrepreneurial. The Tanzania Government departments involved are the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (particularly its Rural Energy Office), and the Ministry of the Environment, which falls under the Vice President’s office. Note that there is a Mr. Mwihava who currently works in a different part of the VP’s office, but was formerly the chair of the National Biogas Steering committee; we will attempt to meet him in Dar es Salaam. Almost 50% of the Tanzanian government budget comes from foreign aid.


The national government is highly decentralized; budgets are formed at the district level. The TDBP goal (which has become an SNV goal) is to get 12000 plants installed in 5 years. 1000 were installed last year (2010), and the plan is for 2300 this year.


MIGESADO provide training for masons, quality-control services, business development training etc.
SNV strongly encourages EWB to work with MIGESADO if we go ahead with the ‘hub’ project. I had tried to reach MIGESADO by e-mail, without luck - itturns out I was given the wrong e-mail address. See a later report about our meetings with MIGESADO.


With regards to the geography of Tanzania, Tayeb saw Arusha as an area of high potential, as most
villagers (excluding the Maasai people) have zero-grazing cattle – a larger percentage of dung can be
collected, and people live in one area year round. The two systems we saw in Monduli (where ~40
systems exist) both used zero grazing cattle. Biogas is more difficult to build in Dodoma, as there is very little yearly rainfall [more on this in later reports].


There is no smell problem associated with normal biogas plants. Maybe there would be if chickens or
pigs were used (more acid). Tayeb knows that de-sulfurization filters are available and cheap if they
are needed. There is no history of biogas plants causing house-fires or explosions. Unlike for pure
methane in the USA, mercaptan (an odorant) is not added to the gas. Normal biogas digestors use a
1:1 ratio of dung and water, although SNV is interested in solid state digestors, which might only need
a 1:5 water:dung ratio. We discussed the possibilities of supplanting dung with human waste; Tayeb
expressed caution, especially because it would increase the amount of material to be filtered out (i.e.
toilet paper, condoms). Also, some people, apparently, just don’t like the idea.


We also talked about ICSEE and their stove program. Tayeb expressed disappointment that ICSEE had not been invited, but said that missing that one meeting was not of much consequence. He seemed
impressed by the numbers: 90% reduction in air pollution and 50% reduction in wood usage. He
would like to visit ICSEE next time he is near Monduli. SNV is currently at a feasbility stage in studying cookstoves, which consists of market scans, as well as a review of biomass policy (there has been confusion over the legality of charcoal in certain areas). Tayeb stressed that the key will need to
be certification of standard designs – in other words, that the goal should be to build a national list
of certified stove designs, which local agencies could then decide between. Also, he talked about
specifications for the materials for the stoves.

My Trip to Zambia

I haven't been updating my blog lately, but will be over the next day or so. This post will discuss my trip to Zambia, and I will update in a future post the progress my group has been making regarding our development project in Tanzania.

Back in February, I spent 2 weeks in Lusaka, Zambia in the Kahlinghalinga (yeah, say that 5 times fast) neighborhood. My uncle opened up the Melsim Lodge Lusaka and my dad's side of the family came to visit.

Zambia is a beautiful country and I am glad I had the opportunity to visit. It's a well developed, relaxed society that has everything you could find in the united states, including malls, clubs, and plenty of restaurants.

For most of the days, we spent a lot of time walking around the downtown area, doing some gambling at the local casino, and enjoying the night life. The highlight of the trip came through our visit to Victoria Falls. After an interesting 7hr. bus ride through the villages of Zambia, we finally arrived at probably one of the most serene sights I have ever witnessed.

We took the tour around the falls, which can get very wet, so they suggest you wear a rain coat. Luckily, they provided us with one because they were not lying. After about an hour we ended up on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe where I was dared to bungee jump. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not afraid to do something risky. Hence the video below,

Upon our return to Lusaka, we spent the rest of the week getting the hotel together and preparing for the festivities. A lot of people came to support the Grand Opening and it was obvious that with that kind of support, they would be very successful. 

Thats all for now, in my next few posts, I will be discussing my upcoming project in Tanzania and the progress we've made thus far. Thanks for tuning in!

Update: Peace Corps status

So I decided to decline my peace corps invitation. I was invited to be a part of the technology transfer program in Mexico. This particular program interacts with a government organization called CONACYT, which is essentially the mexican equivalent of the National Science Foundation. From a 30,000FT. view, they essentially work to develop technology that can be applied to government organizations, large/medium/small businesses and enterprises, etc and hence develops Mexico's economy. This was not your typical peace corps assignment, which from an engineer's perspective was all I could ask for. So what was the problem?

It really came down to my current priorities and my goals of going to school post service, which really had me thinking that between the rising costs of tuition and the 2 years of unpaid service, in the words of Charlie Sheen, I would NOT be Winning. I had to seriously evaluate what my goals were and what types of experience I wanted to get in the next couple years with regards to development and overall international relations. I realized those were things I could do from home, although not the same as completely immersing yourself in the experience, its a start. I've recently come back from a trip to Zambia, Africa. I will update in a later post what that experience was like, but I can say it was amazing. I've also recently been involved with Engineers without Borders, where we are currently discussing a potential design project for the Maasai tribe in northern Tanzania, which right now is sounding pretty promising.  I also moved to Boston where I'm starting a new job for a major newspaper/media company. Looks like I have some work ahead of me, more to come soon. Thanks for tuning in.

Medical Clearance Update

For those who have been wondering where I am in this process. I was given a medical/dental clearance packet a couple months ago to have filled out. I submitted it back in April, only to get my dental packet given back to me, telling me that I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled. I was going to get that done right away, but I've been in the middle of studying for the GMAT exam, coming up this week, and didn't want to disrupt that process.

Next Friday, I will be getting them pulled and should be all set with this part of the clearance process. Hopefully I will have a bigger update to give after that paperwork has gone through.

Medical Packets/Health Care Reform

Update: My medical clearance packet came in yesterday with all kinds of information that needs filling! Luckily, I've been proactive and already scheduled the required appointments to get through this process smoothly. I've seen this process take months for some people, a lot of it is just coordinating all the different areas that you may have to gather medical history from or make appointments with medical doctors, dentists, vision specialists, etc. Most of these items are things we should be doing on a yearly basis anyways, which brings me to my below post.

Healthcare Reform: It's certainly a coincidence that I have to go through this medical clearance process on the cusp of the biggest health care reform in the last century. For anyone that has been following the legislation process for health care reform, you understand how heated the debate has been on both sides of the "aisle" for the past few months to a year. These days, I consider myself more of an independent who leans on the side of the democrats for most issues, except for issues tied to the economy, which seems to be most things lately. First and foremost, I do believe that GUARANTEED health care is our moral OBLIGATION (sorry for the caps), and even more so, a standard of health care for all is required, but like anything, reform must be SUSTAINABLE. The health care system in the US has been broken for decades. Insurance companies have monopolized the industry, and costs have risen to a point that health care just isn't affordable. My biggest problem with the health care reform bill is that it didn't do anything for the actual cost of it. I do believe now that it is guaranteed, the rising cost of healthcare will now be burdened on the tax payer. I would rather have seen all that energy in debate from our leaders go towards coming up with a sustainable plan for health care reform. One question, what's to stop currently healthy people from opting out of health insurance and now only getting it when they are sick? There is a small fine, but the reality is, its nowhere near the amount you would save by doing so. Imagine if you could get car insurance to fix your car after it has been in a wreck, or fire insurance after your house has burned down. This would cripple the private health insurance industry. Further, with the rising cost of health care, and health care now assuming its place as 1/3rd of our GDP, our national debt further becomes an issue of national security. The US heavily relies on short term financing, most of which comes from China and other countries who invest in our treasuries. We will have to pay that back at some point, and when we do, we will realize we can't continue to fund health care, our military, or many of our other necessities. Look at what happened to the Soviet Union.

What do I believe is a solution to health care. A true free market system (we can argue that there is no true free market system), but something that is close to it.

1.) Start pulling away from an employee based system. Give the individual his health insurance cost back as income, and give the tax payer a tax credit for health related costs during the year.

2.) Pay for preventative health care and basic procedures out of pocket, allowing the individual the choice as to what works for them. Allow us to get insurance for major procedures, similar to how insurance is run for other items like car, house, etc.

    - This would drive costs down to a level that is affordable by most Americans. You can take eye laser surgery and cosmetic surgery as examples of out of pocket procedures that have decreased in price tremendously over the past few years due to an update in technology and basic supply/demand theory.

    - This would also allow the govt. to guarantee health care for those that make less than a certain amount of money in an affordable and sustainable way.

3.) Include measures/protections to prevent against discrimination on preexisting conditions.

4.) Allow for more flexibility in doctor licenses and ability to practice out of state. Same with insurance companies, allow the individual to choose from multiple companies whether in state or out of state (this is addressed in the current bill)

There are other things that would need to be included, but I'm far from an expert on the subject, those are just some ideas that I've seen proposed that I believe would work.

For more information, or if you want to go through the entire bill, go to this link http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3200/text

Anyways, until later!

NOMINATED!!

I had my interview on Thursday. I found the recruiter to be nice and easy to talk to. The interview questions weren't too difficult. Mostly consisted of questions around why I wanted to join the peace corps and a lot of questions about my past work and volunteer experiences and some questions around the core expectations of the peace corps. 


Due to the fact that I have had Spanish language training and a lot of leadership experience with Non-profit organizations, I was nominated for a Non-profit/NGO development assignment in Central/South America region leaving in early February. At this point, I have no idea what country that could be. After some research, I have found that it could be one out of a few countries. 


I wasn't expecting to be nominated the same day, but knew it was a possibility. It certainly added a sense of "realness" to the process. February, although 10 months away, will come sooner than I expect. I should be getting a medical/dental clearance packet soon, will update as I make progress!

Update: Interview

Friday February 26, 2010: Received a phone call essentially confirming that they received my materials and that they would be reviewing it over the next few days and that I would receive a phone call next week to schedule an interview. I also received a letter with my toolkit password and username.

Today, I received that phone call, it was pretty brief. I have my interview scheduled for next week Thursday! So far things are moving relatively quick, but it probably won't last......will update later!