Design for the Developing World

The spectrum of potential benefits for infrastructure projects in developing countries

ranges from improved beneficiary access, for example improved educational standard

allowed from year-round access to schools, to the introduction of construction

technology transfer. Despite the benefits of any type of international aid work,

ethical dilemmas of accountability and safe practice are pertinent. The process of

design simplification presents a number of technical and logistical challenges.

Furthermore, professional ethics must be considered when detailing the operations,

maintenance and project lifespan accountability. A general discussion of transferring

a technology from the developed to developing world is also considered from a

lessons-learned context.

6.2.1 Design Simplification

Great care must be taken not to reduce the quality of a design when simplifying.

Many technologies needed in the developing world have well-documented design

approaches for use in developed countries. To make these technologies appropriate

for rural applications, modifications for material availability, low cost and limited

tools and equipment must be accounted for. The process of simplification requires

the engineer to make many of the same design decisions as in an industrialized

78 infrastructure projects, a designer in The United States may be willing to sacrifice an

increase in budget to reduce the construction time. In the developing world, most

often time and labor are least expensive and thus lowering the cost of a project would

be prioritized. Finding the balance between cost, and construction time is of

paramount importance.

Standardizing designs and design processes specifically for development work

provides a greater level of comfort in a design, reducing this likelihood of project

design failure. But, modulated designs require a number of assumptions: a design

code to be followed, material availability and project objectives by the beneficiaries.

Local engineering design codes and community usage requests must be taken when

simplifying a design from the original context in the developed world to that of the

developing. As such, even a simplified and modulated design must have the

flexibility to be modified. Design manuals are often created for use in the developing

world as was the case of the Helvetas manual. It is the suggestion of the author that

development projects may have the greatest impact when a modulated design also is

supplied with a detailed explanation of the design process and assumptions used.

This allows for a more general use of the work as secondary contributors are able to

modify to better suit their local community and national standards.

6.2.2 Ethics of Accountability

Accountability for humanitarian-aid projects requires one to consider the professional

79 industry work, the engineering profession has a very high level of professional

accountability but design codes and regulations allow an engineer a level of

confidence in his or her work. Abroad, the same codes and regulations are

applicable, but the designs often are impractical and thus additional individual

consideration must be given to each project. Furthermore, as developing world

construction techniques and quality control are often inferior to those considered

standard in the developed world, making standardized quality assurance and control

documents for each type of project further ensures project reliability and safety.

The inadequacy of the legal framework in many developing countries measures

reduces the liability of contractors to ensure quality control by their own measures

(Leisninger, 2009). If a developing country has no regulation or has one but does not

enforce it, it is likely that additional margin of safety should be included in the design

as well. A complete best-practice design guide includes the assumed factors of

safety, but an additional document improving the quality control would allow a

designer to fully understand the areas of concern and more assign appropriate factors

of safety considering local capacity for local accountability.

Additionally, project engineers and implementing organizations need to take the

initiative to be personally accountable for each project. A plan of how to avoid

failure as well as what happens in the case of failure is essential. Insurance

companies in the developed world play an essential role in the guarantee of an

80 assurance. Attention in all humanitarian projects should address the issue of ethical

responsibility and how to address a failure situation.

Bridges to Prosperity takes great lengths to ensure quality control throughout each

project. A document is currently being created that would be inclusive of all critical

quality control and maintenance issues. Ultimately, it is the engineer’s responsibility

to take personal accountability for a project’s enduring success and thus operation and

maintenance instructions and training should be included as a required component of

every project. Returning to assist with maintenance also helps to reduce the risk of a

failure.

6.2.3 Transferring Best Practices to Developing Nations

Many lessons were learned in the attempt to transfer a technology fairly well-

understood under typical engineering conditions into a setting for development work.

Perhaps the greatest lesson learned was not attempt to reinvent the wheel. Many

military and emergency engineering documents exist. An academic understanding of

the design issue is necessary but the most pertinent and useful reference materials are

those which consider the lack complexity in simple design.

In the case of footbridge design, the first step was to identify the intended audience

for the report. Ideally a document would be produced that could be used as a field

manual in the developing world. This particular document targeted a more academic

audience. With the vocabulary of choice more technical, further steps were taken to

81 number of input parameters exceeded the feasible ability of in-situ testing, the model

was used for parametric studies to compare possible material assumptions. As the

intended audience was identified as having a working knowledge of geotechnical

engineering, a greater focus was placed on justifying assumptions. Documents with a

more general intended audience may chose to include technical assumptions and

models in an appendix.

Constructability is another critical issue. Many of the design references for soil

anchors for power-lines assumed that changing the depth of embankment would be

the easiest control variable. In the case of rural construction, each meter of added

excavation could add weeks to a project as only man-powered excavation is possible.

This additional construction time may be preferred over additional cost, but the

balance between design cost and time is vastly different from the original design

intent outlined in academic sources. A considerable amount of effort should be taken

to consider both the theoretical and practical sides of a testing program or design.

Designers interested in creating a best-practices guide to design for developing

applications are suggested to limit the amount of theoretical information gathered and

to focus on what is already being done. This report is primarily concerned with

existing academic literature applicable to a somewhat specific product. In future

research and publication, a lesser focus would be placed on academia and a greater

emphasis would be placed on constructability and cost issues, as these are of

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