Engineering for Sustainable Human Development: A Guide to Successful Small-Scale Community Projects

This book describes sustainable community development in low-income and lower-middle income countries, as defined by the World Bank, and, more generally, in countries classified as developing. It provides practical guidelines for conducting engineering projects in developing countries that combine community development practices, technology, engineering management, and system dynamics tools. The guidelines emphasize that strategies for community development must ensure livelihood security at multiple scales ranging from the entire community to its basic units and ultimately to the individuals who comprise those units. The goal of the book is to present an integrative and participatory framework that can be used as a guide for engineers involved in small-scale development projects in high-medium risk and low-capacity communities. The framework is intended to be systemic, adaptive, reflective, and contextual.

This chapter addresses human development and sustainable development, which have been regrouped under the label sustainable human development, as suggested in the 2011 UNDP/HDR report. Development is about addressing basic human needs, which are divided into five hierarchical categories that comprise a general theory of human motivation. These needs include, in order of priority, physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. The terms poverty, poverty reduction, poverty eradication, absolute poverty, and relative poverty arise from the attempt to address these needs, and they permeate the development literature. Human development is about people, the communities to which they belong, and the other institutions with which those communities interact. The overarching goal of sustainable community development is to build communities with the potential to become more stable, equitable, secure, prosperous, and above all more resilient and healthy over time.

Engineers have contributed to society in terms of economic development and quality of life. Now, the engineering profession is called to address a larger challenge, which is to contribute to building a more sustainable, stable, and equitable world, not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. Engineers are called to be changemakers, peacemakers, social entrepreneurs, and facilitators of sustainable development. Sustainable human development requires a new epistemology of engineering practice and education—a new literacy based on reflective and adaptive practice, systems thinking, engagement, and fieldwork—thereby enabling engineers to combine principles of sustainable development into community development. Human development entails humanizing the engineering profession and realizing that engineering in that context is above all—as it has always been—about people.

This chapter reviews project management components as defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and project life-cycle tools and frameworks used by some development agencies. The chapter discusses rights-based issues and a design-as-you-go (adaptive) approach to project design and management. To address the uncertainty that is an integral part of small-scale community development projects, the chapter introduces the appraisal, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and exit strategy (ADIME-E) framework for development projects in developing communities. The overarching goal of the proposed framework is to provide the conditions necessary for sustainable community development and social change leading to communities that are more stable, resilient, equitable, secure, healthy, and prosperous. However, the chapter also recognizes that the proposed ADIME-E framework is not a magic bullet that transforms a community overnight and guarantees its transformation.

Participatory research and participatory action research (PAR) are a methodology and a broad set of ethnographic tools used in social and health sciences, agriculture, and development that try to answer questions such as what is participation, why participate, who participates, how do people participate, when do they participate, where do they participate, and what are the components of participation. This questioning concludes with a discussion about what represents a community. Following the participatory research and community discussions are the various steps in the appraisal phase, which include (1) creating an appraisal team, (2) preparing for the appraisal, (3) designing and carrying out the appraisal, and (4) analyzing and presenting the appraisal results to the stakeholders in the community. The chapter ends with recommendations on how to identify and rank the problems that emerge from the results of the community appraisal.

This chapter introduces system dynamics and its possible applications to sustainable human development because a systems approach to development could potentially provide a greater understanding of the complex interaction among different components of a community and the problems and issues a community is facing. The examples presented in the chapter illustrate the use of system dynamics tools in understanding the dynamic of communities and accounting for their uncertainty and complexity. The chapter also presents the software packages iThink and STELLA, graphically oriented software tools developed to support dynamic modeling for systems simulation using stock-flow representation that are somewhat easy to learn and use.

This chapter covers three components of project design that ultimately help frame the project hypothesis and the what, who, when, where, why, and how of the project. Causal analysis is the systematic identification and prioritization of the consequences and root causes of each problem identified during the appraisal analysis. Following causal analysis is the initial identification and ranking of possible solutions to the problems identified. The chapter then explores how to develop project hypotheses in consultation with community stakeholders and how to create a preliminary action plan to implement those solutions.

Planning is about setting goals, developing strategies, outlining the implementation arrangements, and allocating resources (physical, human, financial) to achieve the goals. The logical framework approach (LFA) has strong attributes that warrant its use in project planning and management. In an action plan, developing a strategy and a methodology for behavior change is critical, because living systems are adaptable, nonlinear, and evolving and thus change takes time. In the process of developing a final work plan, project planners must complete several additional steps to refine and confirm the decisions outlined in the work plan. One called capacity analysis ensures that the community has the capacity to move forward with the recommendations and decisions made in the work plan. Finally, the project design, together with the work plan, must contribute to an overall increase in community resilience.

This chapter presents capacity analysis as a tool to understand the current capacity of a community and its ability to support the comprehensive work plan. Two steps involved in capacity building and development within the context of small community projects are (1) assessment of capacity assets and needs and (2) formulation of a capacity development response. Both steps are part of a larger iterative cyclical process for capacity development proposed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which can be used at various scales from large-sector country development programs to local projects. The chapter emphasizes a methodology to assess the capacity of developing communities to complete local community municipal sanitation services (MSS) projects.

Because risks are an integral part of projects in developing communities, they need to be analyzed (risk analysis) and managed (risk management). The risk environment in development projects is twofold. Hazards and adverse events that exist before the project define the first environment. The project itself induces the second environment. The chapter discusses risks and their impacts, how to integrate risk analysis into the ADIME-E framework, and how to mitigate the effects of risk. Effective risk management requires understanding the risk environment, which includes (1) identifying risks and the probability of their occurrence, (2) understanding the consequences if the risks happen and how they will happen, (3) determining the factors that drive the risks, and (4) monitoring how risks evolve over time.

The concept of resilience has received much attention in the developed world, especially in regard to major hazards and disasters. Clearly, resilient communities, characterized by increased capacity and decreased vulnerability, are less at risk of seeing their acquired level of development erode away and are better prepared to embrace more development. Sustainable development work is critical to increasing capacity and reducing vulnerability of communities in a sustained and long-lasting way. However, performance metrics and indicators are needed to evaluate community resilience. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) was introduced to reduce disaster risk and build the resilience of communities. The disaster risk index (DRI), introduced in 2004 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), measures the average risk of death per country in disasters related to earthquakes, tropical cyclones, and floods.

Outsiders alone cannot define project success. Insiders must be involved in different phases of the work plan, including executing, closing, and ensuring project sustainability. This chapter emphasizes the importance of assessment in the life cycle of development projects, which includes monitoring and evaluation. Monitoring is an ongoing process that provides real-time information and data, not only about how the action plan is being developed and implemented, but more importantly about the progress toward achieving the project goals and objectives. Evaluation provides a summative assessment at the end of a specific project phase or activity, but more often during midterm and end-of-project review. In general, monitoring and evaluation are complementary. Finally, the chapter emphasizes the importance of developing a strategy to decide on project closure and scaling up.

This chapter discusses what represents appropriate and sustainable technology in small-scale community development projects. Because needs in the developing world require a new mindset and approach, the development of service options and associated technologies must be considered carefully. Service delivery in development projects can take multiple forms depending on the community's level of development; its capacity and vulnerability; and whether the community is facing small, medium, or large adverse events. Furthermore, the delivery of services to address the needs of developing communities depends on the context in which the needs are met, the nature of the needs, and how quickly the needs must be met.

Access to modern sources of energy is critical to human and economic development and is an integral part of making the eight Millennium Development Goals a success. Alternatives to traditional biomass for cooking and kerosene and candles for lighting are needed for the poor to climb the energy ladder and step out of poverty. Alternatives to traditional energy services presented in the chapter are (1) using traditional fuels more efficiently with management of natural resources, (2) using renewable sources of energy in the form of off-grid decentralized systems, and (3) connecting to an existing grid. It is noteworthy that the delivery of energy services to the developing world is an entry point for considerable innovation and social enterprise at multiple levels, whether in the form of new technology, the services around the technology, or the technology's maintenance and long-term performance.

Clean drinking water and sanitation and hygiene practices are key determinants of healthy communities. They are necessary for community development, but are not sufficient because access to other services, such as shelter, food, energy, and others, is equally critical. Climbing the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) ladder occurs in parallel with climbing out of poverty and experiencing better health at the household and community levels. In turn, good health translates into education and access to further opportunities for human and economic development. Recent statistics show that the world will meet Millennium Development Goal 7C by 2015 in regard to sustainable access to safe drinking water, but not in regard to sanitation, despite major progress in that field. Clearly, providing high-quality WASH-related services to address the needs of everyone on the planet has a long way to go.

The concluding chapter argues for the role of engineering in poverty reduction and human development in general, emphasizing a framework and guidelines for conducting small-scale development projects in communities that are highly vulnerable to adverse events and have low capacity to handle the stress associated with those events. The chapter draws key conclusions about major themes addressed in this book, including (1) recognizing the abnormality of poverty, (2) understanding household livelihood and real wealth, (3) defining project success in uncertain and complex conditions, (4) improving the future practice and education of global engineers, and (5) defining sustainability and sustainable development. Development designed for sustainability is also key to lifting billions of people out of poverty who are not yet members of emerging markets.