BET101: EWB Challenge Water Aid Timor-Leste Report

This report, submitted as part of the BET101 Professional Engineering course at Melbourne Polytechnic, provides a mid-review of the EWB Challenge Water Aid project in Timor-Leste. It begins with an introduction outlining the project's aims, objectives, scope, and methodology. A literature review explores the community and environmental setting of Timor-Leste, highlighting the challenges faced by the population. The report then delves into the project's background, problem solutions, including climate change resilience, financing, sanitation, and social inequality. An evaluation of the proposed solutions is also included. The report analyzes the impact of the water aid program on the living standards of the people in Timor Leste. It also analyzes how the WASH program has greatly handled the problems faced by the locals. The report concludes with a discussion of the project's performance and potential improvements, and provides references to support its findings.

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A report submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the Subject
BET101 Professional Engineering
in the Bachelor of Engineering Technology (Civil) Degree
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Semester 1 – 2019
Date:
2019 EWB Challenge -
Water Aid Timor-Leste -
Mid Review Report
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Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................4
1.2 Project outline............................................................................................................................5
1.3 Scope of work............................................................................................................................5
1.4 Aims...........................................................................................................................................5
1.5 Objectives..................................................................................................................................6
1.6 Methodology..............................................................................................................................6
1.7 Report outline............................................................................................................................7
2 Literature review...........................................................................................................................7
2.1 Community................................................................................................................................7
2.2 Environmental setting................................................................................................................9
3 Projects background......................................................................................................................9
4 Problem solution.........................................................................................................................10
4.0.1 Climate change and resilience..............................................................................................10
4.0.2 Financing..............................................................................................................................11
4.0.3 Sanitation and hygiene..........................................................................................................11
4.0.4 Social and economic inequality............................................................................................11
4.0.5 Constrained sector capacity and performance......................................................................11
4.1 Evaluation of solution..............................................................................................................12
4.2 Evaluation of preferred solution..............................................................................................12
5 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................16
6 References...................................................................................................................................18
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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Map of Timor Leste.........................................................................................................8
Figure 2: Estimated annual spending on water to reach goals.......................................................13
Figure 3: Estimated annual spending on sanitation to reach goals................................................14
Figure 4: proposed investment on water supply and sanitation.....................................................14
Figure 5: Expenditure on total water supply..................................................................................14
Figure 6: Expenditure on total sanitation.......................................................................................15
Table 1: Showing population with access to improved sanitation................................................12
Table 2: Showing population with access to improved water source............................................12
Table 3: Progress in water supply..................................................................................................13
Table 4: Progress in sanitation.......................................................................................................13
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1. Introduction
After several years struggling to achieve independence, any government needs
to put in place measures that will ensure they fully recover from the consequences of
the struggle. The major challenge that they therefore face is how to find the
appropriate ways that will ensure they fully ground up after achieving their
independence. The people of Timor-Leste, an island nation located in Southeast Asia
were in this position several years back. Any given country often strives to overcome
these challenge as fast as they can (Willetts, 2012). The people as well as the
government of Timor Leste surprisingly did overcome this challenge much faster than
was expected from anyone. The country made several huge investments in education,
healthcare as well as electricity. It is worth noting that their coverage in these sectors
increased from a staggering 30% in the year 2011 to a whopping 82% in the year
2015 (Anderson, 2013).
Besides making several investments in order to improve the lives of the people
of Timor Leste, other vital sectors such as water and toilets were still derailing their
progress. The forested and steep mountains that were mostly inhabited by many poor
people were the most affected. These are majorly communities that are not easy to
access and greatly depend on the local authorities for support (Bhattacharyay, 2010).
Unfortunately, these local government authorities always lack enough funding as well
as training that can help the locals. The water aid project therefore works together
with the government in order to ensure that toilets, clean water and good hygiene
become the way of life for the people of Timor Leste. The oppressed are also helped
to demand for equal rights. The project also works hand in hand with the local
government in order to ensure that they acquire the skills and means that will help
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them meet the demands of the locals. The Timor Leste water aid program is
determined work together with the locals through each step of the way in order to
bring a change that lasts forever (Campbell et al, 2016).
1.2 Project outline
This research work mainly focuses on the water aid program for the people of
Timor Leste. The water aid initiative was developed to help many countries that are
unable to acquire clean water, decent toilets and a hygienic living to acquire these
vital amenities. The people of Timor Leste are among the most affected due to the
lack of these vital amenities. Statistics from this country reveal that over 350000
people do not have access to clean water whereas another over 660000 people also do
not access to decent toilets. This project therefore evaluates how the water aid
program has improved the ling standards of people in this country (Borgerhoff, 2016).
1.3 Scope of work
This section mainly involves the project planning that determines the expected
goals, features, tasks, deliverables, functions, costs and deadlines that this report is
required to achieve. This report is a research work on the water aid program in Timor
Leste. It is aimed at determining whether the program has been a success or not. The
major challenges that have been faced during its implementation are also discussed.
Benefits from the program set up since its implementation forms the basis of this
report. The report greatly relies upon views from the locals as well as official reports
and reviews from relevant authorities that have been following up on the program.
1.4 Aims
The project is determined to attain the following aims:
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 To achieve universal access to sanitation, safe water and hygiene for the
people of Timor Leste.
 To promote proper hygiene and sanitation behaviors
 To understand and manage the quality and quantity of domestic water
 To demonstrate and adapt proper water planning and safety approaches with
the local communities of Timor Leste (Palmer, 2010).
 To assess the overall performance of the program over the years in all the
regions
1.5 Objectives
 To perform an assessment of the overall performance of the program over the
years in the regions where the project has been set up (Willetts et al, 2015).
 To determine the challenges faced in the implementation of the water aid
project in the Timor Leste population
 To measure the achievements of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
services and come up with better or improved ideas to make the program
much better and reachable to all the target population (Palmer, 2011).
1.6 Methodology
This is a research work on the water aid program in Timor Leste. Despite the
fact that over one billion people in the past two decades are no longer grouped under
extreme poverty, close to 10% of the world’s population are still living under extreme
hygiene conditions. There still exists a population that has no access to clean water to
drink as well a decent toilet. This is a common challenge to several countries around
the globe. Timor Leste similarly faces this challenge. The lack of safe water to drink
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and decent toilets often results to poor sanitation and hygiene and thus up to 315000
children lose their lives annually (Campbell et al, 2017).
1.7 Report outline
This segment involves a presentation of how the report is being addressed.
The report first discusses the community of interest where this investigation is being
carried out. The Timor Leste is the community of study. The major problems that are
faced by the people of Timor Leste are also pointed out and discussed. Probable
solutions to some of the major problems are also discussed (Chandra, Dargusch &
McNamara, 2016). The main challenge in the selected population is the lack of clean
drinking water and decent toilet. The report will discuss the major problems and the
probable solutions to them. Finally, an evaluation of the solutions will also be done in
order to establish the most viable solutions that can be put into action.
2 Literature review
2.1 Community
Timor Leste is a south East Asian country that occupies nearly half of the
Timor Island. It has an approximated population of 1.3 million people with a growth
rate of 1.8% annually. The country is considered as one of the poorest countries in the
world. It has a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of $ 3.949. Of the total
population, only 40.2% of the people aged 15 years and above are employed. The
country’s struggle for independence against the Indonesia colony came with several
adverse effects. Poverty is a major after effect from their struggle for independence.
The struggle for independence resulted to poor infrastructure and displacement of
thousands of locals. Several schools were severely destroyed (Clarke et al, 2016).
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Statistics indicate that up to 37.4% of the locals love below the international poverty
line of $ 1.25 daily and a whopping 40% are malnourished. The life expectancy
during birth is at 62.5 years. The major reason that has prevented the country from
reducing the poverty index is due to poor leadership as well as lack of transparency
and accountability from the authorities. Such factors have completely hindered the
country’s ability to attract foreign investments and little foreign aid has also been
channeled to the country (Rosser & Bremner, 2015).
Figure 1: Map of Timor Leste
2.2 Environmental setting
Up to 70% of the Timor Leste population lives in tiny settlements in rural
areas. The locals depend mostly on the natural resources of the country for their
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livelihood, mainly forests, marine resources, agricultural land and oil. The country is
well known to be vulnerable to climate variability as well as natural disasters (Danert,
Schouten & Smits, 2014). It is also subject to seasonal food insecurity, increasing
levels of unemployment, reduced economic activities, poor infrastructure etc. the
country’s population growth is approximated at 2.7% annually and that implies that
by 2030, their population will be at 1.85 million and thus will bring more pressure on
the already pathetic environment of the country. There are major expectations that
revenues from the petroleum industry will form a major pillar for the improvement of
the country’s economy. Despite the projected benefits from the petroleum industry, it
still possesses equal threats to the environment. Constant risks of oil spills during
transportation and extraction possesses a major threat to the environment. The country
is also exposed to a wide range of impacts that result from global changes in climate.
Increase in sea levels, droughts, floods; extreme heats, increased tropical cyclones
intensities, acidification and ocean warming are the major threats that result from
climate changes (Guterres, Yamarat, & Xenos, 2014).
3 Projects background
Timor Leste is among the poorest countries in the whole world and their locals
are often faced with a number of challenges. The poverty levels mean that they are not
able to access several vital services for their livelihood. A major social amenity that
most of the locals in several regions of the country often lack is the access to clean
and safe water. Besides that, they are also not entitled to decent toilets. This means
that they are not entitled to proper sanitation and good hygiene (Hunt, 2011). Being a
young nation, Timor leste faces even greater tasks in preventing these problems. The
water aid program therefore saw the challenges that are faced with these civilians are
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faced with and came up with strategies to help them alleviate these problems. The
water aid program is intended to achieve sustaining water, sanitation and hygiene
(WASH) services for their locals. The water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
program has received numerous appreciations for the role it has played in providing
safe drinking water and decent toilets. It has greatly handled most of the problems that
are faced by the locals of this country (Lopes et al, 2011).
4 Problem solution
The water aid program in Timor Leste has experienced several evolution since
became established from when the new government was formed almost a decade ago.
Over the years, the program has had a major focus of generating the confidence and
capacity of the staff and the organization’s partner (McGregor, 2013). The program
has made efforts in informing the different sectors on the vital issues such as
developing climate resilience, behavioral change and service sustainability. The
major problems and solutions are as discussed below.
4.0.1 Climate change and resilience
As a result of the rapidly growing population and effects of changes in
climate, the water aid program therefore makes it a priority to effectively manage and
protect the water resource that has become so vulnerable. This will help protect both
the quantity and quality of the water resource (Moxham, 2015).
4.0.2 Financing
In order to achieve universal WASH in the country, it is proper to increase the
financial allocations that always been highly variable and not able to meet the
expectations of the government. This is heavily reliant on ability to create good
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