REPORT

4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPROPRIATE

TECHNOLOGY
APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY ON WATER AND SANITATION:
SOLUTION FOR A THIRSTY AND POLLUTED PLANET”

Hosted at the African University college of Communications and

University Of Ghana Centre for African Wetlands
Accra, Ghana, November 24-27, 2010.

By

OKECHUKWU JOY ANULI

THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF SURVEYING & GEOINFORMATICS

UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS

LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

2010
 DEDICATION

This project is dedicated to all Appropriate Technology Team.

 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

My profound gratitude goes to Prof. Nwilo, P. C. for the fatherly roles played and for all the

exposures and opportunities to express myself and to learn.

A million thanks to Dr. Linda Hayden for all her supports even when it was obvious I was not

moving at her desired pace.

Thanks to Mr. John Oraefo for all the advice.

Sincere appreciation to all the sponsors (Howard University, Northern California Council Black

professional Engineers, National Technical Association,Counsil of Scientific and Industrial

Research, Kwame Nkrumah University of science and technology Kumasi, Ghana).

I will not fail to mention my mentors, Dr. Carwell and Mrs. Finley who were there for me all

through the conference.

I appreciate my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey Okechukwu for their moral supports.

Thanks to Professors John Trimble, Victor Dzidziienyo, Fortunak, Dr. Tharakan, Engineer

Kinyua, Madzima and all the beautiful and handsome scholars from different countries that made

the conference an exciting moment for me. I love u all.

INTRODUCTION
Appropriate Technology is technology that is designed with special consideration to the

environmental, ethical, cultural, social, political, and economical aspects of the

community it is intended for.

With environmental and ethical goals in mind, AT proponents claim their methods

require fewer resources, are easier to maintain, and have less of an impact on the

environment compared to techniques from mainstream technology, which they contend is

wasteful and environmentally polluting.

The term “appropriate technology” came into some prominence during the 1973 energy

crisis and the environmental movements of the 1970s.

The International Conference on Appropriate Technology is a biennial meeting of

representatives of various organizations to focus on

• Utilizing the most effective technology to address the needs of developing areas,

and

• Using socially and environmentally acceptable technologies in industrialized

nations.

The conference lasted for four days, from 24th-27th November, both days inclusive.
DAY 1 24TH November, 2010

THE OPENING RECEPTION

The Opening reception commenced with self introduction from the Mistress of ceremony.

She introduced the guests at the High Table with emphases on Professor John Trimble

and the other members of the AT team.

The microphone was passed from one end to the other with individuals, introducing

themselves. It was distracting at a certain point, when three consecutive participants

introduced themselves as people who came all the way from Louisiana USA, to support

one of the poster presenters (Adrienne white).

Eventually, the microphone was passed to me and I did introduce myself, stressing my

name, course of study, my Institution and my beloved country Nigeria. Schools

represented at the conference were;

• Howard University Washington DC, USA

• Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso; Nigeria

• National University of Science & Technology Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

• Savannah State University, Georgia, USA

• University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

• University of Kwazulu Natal Durban, South Africa

• University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

 • University of Swaziland, Kwaluseni, Swaziland

Cultural dance and beats from some dancing group finally launched the opening and

participants walked across the servers to have dinner.

Many moved across tables, socialising and passing greetings; we all knew it was going to

be a great and exciting moment at the conference, most especially for people like me, the

first time participants.

DAY 2 25TH November, 2010

The second day was the first full day. The bus took off at the Ange Hill hotel at 07:30

GMT.

The official opening and welcoming commenced at the University Of Ghana, Centre for

African Wetlands, 08:00 GMT, with Registrations of participants. This introduced us to

the package prepared for all participants, the conference bag, a pen from Howard

University, a red laser pointer pen, the conference proceedings booklet, flyers from

AUCC and Howard University.

Immediately were the formal greetings from INAT Chair- Professor John Trimble, the

Office of Vice- Chancellor University of Ghana and the opening keynote from Hon.

Alban Bagbin, Ghana’s Minister of Water Resources, works and Housing. All these were

on till 10:00GMT, the Tea break time.

10:30- 12:30 GMT

Plenary Paper Session I: Water and Sanitation

The first and second sessions were chaired by Dr. John Tharakan from the Department of

Chemical Engineering, Howard University.

The following areas were visited during the first session:

• Appropriate Technologies for Water and Sanitation – John Tharakan

• Sustainable Fresh water supply for Chennai city, Tamil Nadu, India- A status
Update- Joseph Thomas

• A Sustainable And Robust Membrane Water Treatment Unit for Potable water
Production in remote Rural Areas- V L Pillay

• Safe Water; for Health and Wealth- Stella O. Odaba

• Appropriate technology and Water: Institutions of Higher Learning’s role to

find solutions for a thirsty planet- Tsitsi Gate

12:30 – 14:00GMT

Lunch and keynote speaker

The keynote speaker during the lunch session was Mr. Kweku Botwe, The Managing

Director, Ghana Water Company Ltd.

14:00- 16:00GMT

Plenary Paper Session II: Sanitation and Environment Barefoot ethics:

Social Justice Through an Appropriate Technology Checklist – Charles C. Verharen

and John Tharakan

• Placer Mining and the Guyana environment- Tom Dalgety

• Household willingness to pay for Improved Solid Waste Management in Osun

State Nigeria- Adepoju A. A.

• Wastewater Minimisation In The Production of kenkey (A Traditional Ghana

Corn Meal Product)- Nii Darko Asante
Panel of Appropriate technology Expert

Joseph Thomas, Chief Technology Officer, Villgro, Chennai Indian

Kinyua Ngige, CEO, Clean Air Water, Nairobi Kenya.
John Trimble, Chair, International Network on Appropriate Technology, Washington DC

Paul Lartey CEO, CEO, Lagray Chemical Co, Founder LayGray Foundation (for research
in neglected diseases), Accra Ghana.
DAY 3 26TH November, 2010

The workshop and the paper sessions ran concurrently.

Workshop- the mobile studio project by Mohamed Chouikha and Kenneth

Conor.

The mobile studio is a small inexpensive hardware platform for use in a home, classroom

or remote environment. When coupled with the mobile studio desktop software, the

system duplicates a large amount of the hardware often used to teach Electrical

Engineering, Computer Engineering, Control System, Physics courses and K-12

technology-oriented courses; in addition to a myriad of industrial and commercial

utilizations.

The vision of this project is to develop and deploy affordable technology and learning

materials to enhance Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM)

education; while expanding studio teaching to environments that are no longer limited by

equipment access or cost issues. The goal of this project is to enable “tinkering” and

“hands-on” exploration of STEM principles, devices, and systems- fostering learning at

anyplace, anytime.

8:00- 10:00GMT

Paper Session I: Food and Shelter

Session Chair- Victor Dzidzienyo

• Potentialities of Contemporary Earth Construction Addressing Urban Housing

Crisis in Africa – Mohammad Sharif Zami

• The role of Advanced Construction technologies In promotion Sustainable

Shelter, water And Development In South Africa- Kuchena
Jabulani,Chakwiziri

• Enhancing Crop production in Zimbabwe Through the use of Information and

Communication Technology- S.M. Nleya, T.V Nyathi

• Business Solution For Small Scale Irrigation technologies: MEDA`s Eperience in

Zambia- Alexandra Snelgrove.

10:15- 12:15GMT

Paper Session II: Engineering, Information and Communications

Technology

Session Chair- John Trimble

• Innovation in Engineering education: the Mobile studio – Peter Bofah and

Mohamed Chouikha
 • Linking ICTs to Community development:: Case of Masendu community in
Bulilima Mangwe District of Zimbabwe- Kudakwashe Madzima

• Using Business Roles Standard to advance E- Governance- John Trimble

• Are COTS- Based Systems and Appropriate Technology- Gada Kadoda

Lunch and keynote speaker 12:30 – 14:00GMT

The keynote speaker during the lunch session was Dr. Albert Wright, a honorary fellow

of the British Institution of Public Health Engineers, England, and a 2009 recipient of the

AMCOW AfricanSan Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in Africa on water

supply and sanitation.

14:00- 16:00GMT

PAPER SESSION III: Energy and Health

Session Chair- Joseph Fortunak

• Charcoal as an Alternative Energy Source among urban Housholds in

Ogbomoso Metropolis of Oyo State – Okunade, E.O. (Phd)

• A Bottom- up Approach to Energy Policy Planning in West Africa: The Case of

Distributed Generation of Reneweable Electricity- Ogundiran Soumonni

• Design Of PV Solar Home System For Use In Urban Zimbabwe- J Gwamuri, S

Mhlanga

• Design Of A Size- Adjustable Surgical Shoe: Achieving Optimal Asepsis

Comfortabily- Jason Atike ans Elsie Effah Kaufmann

• Care Practices At Home Foe People Living With Aids in Accra, Ghana: The use
And Management Of Household resources- Vivian Tackie-Ofosu.

• A Survey On The Association Between Blood Glucose levels, Hyperlipidemia

And Selected Type 2 Diabetes Predisposing Risk Factors In Bulawayo District
of Zimbabwe- Shadreck Dube
 • Building Capabilities for regional Production of Quality_ Assured Medicines in
Africa- Joseph Fortunak

DAY 4 27TH November, 2010

Way forward- Dr. Carwell

The floor was open for suggestions and contributions on the way forward. Below is a
summary on some of the contributions made.
1. Babatunde Samuel: the fact that students need to change their mindsets should be
highlighted and not confine themselves to the academic system only but broaden
their view and find a way to solve the problems around them. There should be
problem relevance in our teaching. Problem solving should be fused into our
education.
2. Dr. John Trimble: we should be critical. We don’t term a technology
“appropriate” because it is in use but, we should be critical about any technology
developed that we deem appropriate.
3. Babatunde Samuel: we should work together instead of presenting papers
individually because, many of our projects are overlapped and work will be more
efficient if we put brains together.
4. Segun Ogunlade: a technology should be introduced to control in our environment
majorly in Africa. We shouldn’t just go ahead developing technologies
appropriate for various issues and yet continue in fear within our locality.
5. Dr. Carwell: we should pick a location, study and find out the pressing need of the
society.
6. John Tharakan: research education and practice have always been the key issues
of all the successful conferences but the theme should revolve around an emphasis
on policies that affect the conference issues
7. Engr. Kinyua: suggested that in Kenya, there should be a need to send successful
report and proposals to the ministry to affect their minds ahead of time to affirm
their interest and readiness to support.
CONCLUSION
The 4th International Conference on Appropriate Technology was a big success and a
memorable one. The objectives were met.

Effective Technologies were utilized to address the scarcity of potable water in

developing areas.