Paper details
| Paper authors | Dr. Harriet Rachel Kagoya Kibuule, Grace Kyagaba, James Mundrugo, Dr. Brian Kanaahe |
| In panel on | Reimagining Humanitarian Response in the Face of Compounding Global Risks |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Appropriate faecal sludge management (FSM) in refugee settings safeguards public health and the environment. Despite potential disaster threat, FSM has received limited attention in Uganda which currently hosts over 1.7 million refugees and asylum seekers, with gaps including inadequate desludging, limited treatment option escalating public health and environmental risks.
This presents a case from the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), which reimagines humanitarian research partnership to strengthen FSM in crisis-prone, resource limited settings. Since 2022, URCS has collaborated Makerere University (MUK), Technical University of Vienna and Mbarara University of Science and Technology to implement a 4-year project ‘Clean and Prosperous Uganda Faecal Sludge and Solid Waste Management for Improved Livelihoods’. The partnership applies the Mendelow’s stakeholder framework to enhance local engagement and anticipate risks through innovations such as Uganda’s first mobile faecal sludge quality laboratory (FSQL).
Through these collaborations, 68 persons have been trained on low cost, climate adaptive FSM technologies, including gulper emptying, vermi-composting. Ongoing co-development of a digital FSM & solid waste management (SWM) tool and training curriculum aims to further localize and institutionalize knowledge. This model highlights how anticipatory, cross sectoral collaboration can build resilience, empower local actors, and integrate overlooked sanitation solutions into broader humanitarian strategies. #Innovations-to-avert-crises#
