Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association

Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA)
Company type	Nonprofit
Industry	International development
Founded	July 1977; Bremen, Germany
Headquarters	Am Deich 45, D-28199 Bremen, Germany
Area served	South Asia, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, Latin America, Central Asia
Key people	Judith Ringlstetter, Managing Director; Joachim Klaembt, President
Revenue	4.7 M Euro (2011)
Number of employees	15 in headquarters, 228 worldwide
Website	www.borda.org

Last updated August 12, 2024

The Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA) is a non-profit international development organization^[1] headquartered in Bremen, Germany. It has regional offices in Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Tanzania, as well as several project offices within each region. BORDA began its work in 1977, starting with its first project, “Technology Transfer of Biogas from India-Ethiopia.” Since then, it has been active in the delivery of basic needs services across the developing world. BORDA is a partner organization of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance. BORDA participates in the promotion and implementation of DEWATS systems (decentralized wastewater treatment systems) in many countries in Asia and Africa.

Regional Offices

BORDA's main areas of operation are South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal; Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam; Africa, comprising Mali and the SADC region states of Lesotho, Zambia, South Africa, and Tanzania; West & Central Asia, including Afghanistan and Iraq; and Latin America and The Caribbean, including Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Africa

In September 2006, BORDA started the SADC BNS program through co-operation with TED (Technology for Economic Development), a Lesotho-based NGO. In February 2010, a regional office was established in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The regional office coordinates the program activities, facilitates a constantly growing BNS network within the SADC region and links up with BNS networks in South and South-East Asia. Further, BORDA cooperates with the Water and Sanitation Association of Zambia (WASAZA), based in Lusaka. The BORDA BNS network develops and delivers the following service packages: decentralized wastewater and urban sludge management; community-based sanitation (CBS) with integrated wastewater treatment for community and public sanitation centers and simplified sewer systems; school-based sanitation (SBS); decentralized solid waste management (DESWAM); biogas technologies; city-wide planning; health and hygiene education (HE); health impact assessment (HIA) and Quality management. All service packages are adapted to the conditions and requirements of the individual country and are supported by an adequate quality management system (QMS).

In February 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between BORDA and the Department of Water and Sanitation of the eThekwini Municipality (EWS) in the province KwaZulu Natal, South Africa for a demonstration and research DEWATS plant to be designed, constructed, commissioned and operated at Newlands-Mashu, Durban. In October 2010, the biogas settler and the anaerobic baffled reactors (ABR) were seeded with biomass.

In June 2010, EWS, HERING South Africa, the Pollution Research Group (PRG) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and BORDA agreed to cooperate to achieve the transfer of technology and know-how for the planning, installation, and operation of prefabricated community ablution blocks (CABs) to offer improved sanitation services to communities. Based on this Public-Private-Partnership-Project BORDA SADC established a new office in Shakas Head, in the north of Durban. The premises are shared with HERING South Africa.

South Asia

BORDA has worked in India since 1979, making it the oldest region to be served by the organization. Programs implemented span the range of BORDA services, from Decentralized Wastewater Treatment (DEWATS) to Decentralized Energy Supplies.

Currently, BORDA-South Asia (BORDA-SA) works in nine Indian states, as well as neighboring regions. In Nepal BORDA co-operates with ENPHO. BORDA-SA and its partners have been contracted by international development organizations, including GIZ (Germany, in particular with the former GTZ and In Went), AusAID (Australia), and CEU, as well as national and local governments.

BORDA-SA supports a development cooperation network of 13 partner organizations and by extension, over 100 development experts in providing basic needs services. Over 110 DEWATS projects have been implemented, together with more than 65 Decentralized Energy Supplies and 60 Water Supplies.

Southeast Asia

The main emphasis of BORDA SEA is DEWATS, in particular DEWATS CBS, SME's and the establishment of community-based organizations to provide sustainable operation and maintenance of the facilities. For upscaling the DESWAM (decentralized solid waste management for low-income urban communities) service package, BORDA SEA develops, in co-operation with IDRC (International Research Development Centre) a pro poor carbon financing scheme under the Kyoto protocol.

In Indonesia, BORDA strongly emphasis on the enhancement of DESWAM as well as continuing the national program of community-based sanitation (SANIMAS) through the dissemination of DEWATS. Best practices are transferred into technical and social implementation standard as well as improving the involved human resources capacity through trainings and certification.

The working group on Indonesia's national policy on water supply and sanitation is cooperating with BORDA and its local NGO partners as the main supporting network for community-based sanitation (CBS) with more than 500 implementations, including school-based sanitation and 14 DESWAM, until the end of 2010. Local NGO partners are Bilious, LPTP (Lembaga Engemann Tecnology Pedestal - Center for Community-Based Environmental Technology) and B.E.S.T.

In the Philippines, BORDA is cooperating with BNS Philippines to introduce DEWATS as a viable option for wastewater and environmental health problems in urban areas. Transferring know-how was conducted by Indonesian experts within the context of the BORDA south-south dissemination program. By now, BNS is a well-known service provider for DEWATS in the Philippines.

In Cambodia, specialists on DEWATS from Indonesia have been facilitated by BORDA and its partner organization, ESC (Environmental Services Cambodia), to enhance its capacity concerning DEWATS know-how. 3 DEWATS plants were inaugurated in 2010. Cooperation with national and international stakeholders will allow the start-up of DEWATS as an application for wastewater management in Cambodia, mainly for communities, schools and hospitals.

In Vietnam, the BORDA maintains a branch office. Indonesian specialists support the capacity building at the Vietnam Partners at the Vietnam Institute for Water Resources concerning DEWATS applications. In earlier years, the organization implemented the Hydraulic Ram (Hyram) technology as well as the use of biogas, energy-saving stoves, and solar panels, supported the introduction of HPC(Hydro Power Centre)'the s turbine pumps and Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System (DEWATS) technology.

In Laos, BORDA opened a project office in February 2013 to implement DEWATS service packages in one of Southeast Asia's least developed countries. Institutional cooperation takes place at the national and local level, particularly with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Department of Housing and Urban Planning, to promote both improved public health within low-income urban and peri-urban settlements, and the reduction organic pollution of precious fresh water sources for the benefit of the Lao people and nation.

West & Central Asia

Under the project title “Capacity building for local craftsmen and small medium enterprises for the sustainable implementation of decentralized wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS)", BORDA has run project offices in Kabul and Herat since July 2012 with projects focused on vocational training.

Many years of civil war and military intervention have brought about a massive destruction of infrastructure and the loss of capacities for civil reconstruction in Afghanistan.

The current growth of the country's urban centers intensifies the need for feasible waste disposal solutions and increases the demand for trained staff in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector.

BORDA Afghanistan promotes DEWATS through training programs and learning projects. An emphasis is given to glass-fiber reinforced plastic (GRFP) technologies, which reduce the risk and cost of implementation. BORDA also provides school-based Sanitation (SBh), Health & Hygiene Education (Hei and Health Impact Assessments (HIA) in Afghanistan. So far, such services have been deployed hospitalism's, Hospitals and Mosques in to he provinces Kabul, Bamiyan Balkh, Badakhshan, Herat, and Nangahar.

BORDA Afghanistan coordinates closely with national institutions such as the Ministry of Urban Development Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency. For the vocational training of Afghan craftsmen and small-scale entrepreneurs BORDA cooperates with its local partners.

Services

Decentralized Water Supply
Decentralized Wastewater Treatment (with DEWATS)
Community-Based Sanitation (CBS)
Decentralized Solid Waste Management
Decentralized Energy Supply
Knowledge and Quality Management

Related Research Articles

Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems aim to protect human health by providing a clean environment that will stop the transmission of disease, especially through the fecal–oral route. For example, diarrhea, a main cause of malnutrition and stunted growth in children, can be reduced through adequate sanitation. There are many other diseases which are easily transmitted in communities that have low levels of sanitation, such as ascariasis, cholera, hepatitis, polio, schistosomiasis, and trachoma, to name just a few.

A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes the following:

A drainage basin
A raw water collection point where the water accumulates, such as a lake, a river, or groundwater from an underground aquifer. Raw water may be transferred using uncovered ground-level aqueducts, covered tunnels, or underground water pipes to water purification facilities.
Water purification facilities. Treated water is transferred using water pipes.
Water storage facilities such as reservoirs, water tanks, or water towers. Smaller water systems may store the water in cisterns or pressure vessels. Tall buildings may also need to store water locally in pressure vessels in order for the water to reach the upper floors.
Additional water pressurizing components such as pumping stations may need to be situated at the outlet of underground or aboveground reservoirs or cisterns.
A pipe network for distribution of water to consumers and other usage points
Connections to the sewers are generally found downstream of the water consumers, but the sewer system is considered to be a separate system, rather than part of the water supply system.

Drinking water supply and sanitation coverage in Honduras has increased significantly in the last decades. However, the sector is still characterized by poor service quality and poor efficiency in many places. Coverage gaps still remain, particularly in rural areas.

Drinking water and sanitation in Nicaragua are provided by a national public utility in urban areas and water committees in rural areas. Despite relatively high levels of investment, access to drinking water in urban areas has barely kept up with population growth, access to urban sanitation has actually declined and service quality remains poor. However, a substantial increase in access to water supply and sanitation has been reached in rural areas.

The Dominican Republic has achieved impressive increases in access to water supply and sanitation over the past two decades. However, the quality of water supply and sanitation services remains poor, despite the country's high economic growth during the 1990s.

Water supply and sanitation in Indonesia is characterized by poor levels of access and service quality. More than 16 million people lack access to an at least basic water source and almost 33 million of the country's 275 million population has no access to at least basic sanitation. Only about 2% of people have access to sewerage in urban areas; this is one of the lowest in the world among middle-income countries. Water pollution is widespread on Bali and Java. Women in Jakarta report spending US$11 per month on boiling water, implying a significant burden for the poor.

Water supply and sanitation in Yemen is characterized by many challenges as well as some achievements. A key challenge is severe water scarcity, especially in the Highlands, prompting The Times of London to write "Yemen could become the first nation to run out of water". A second key challenge is a high level of poverty, making it very difficult to recover the costs of service provision. Access to water supply sanitation in Yemen is as low or even lower than that in many sub-Saharan African countries. Yemen is both the poorest country and the most water-scarce country in the Arab world. Third, the capacity of sector institutions to plan, build, operate and maintain infrastructure remains limited. Last but not least the security situation makes it even more difficult to improve or even maintain existing levels of service.

The water supply and sanitation sector in Ghana is a sector that is in charge of the supply of healthy water and also improves the sanitation of water bodies in the country.

The Philippines' water supply system dates back to 1946, after the country declared independence. Government agencies, local institutions, non-government organizations, and other corporations are primarily in charge of the operation and administration of water supply and sanitation in the country.

Drinking water supply and sanitation in Benin has been subject to considerable progress since the 1990s, in particular in rural areas, where coverage is higher than in many other African countries, and almost all development partners follow a national demand-responsive strategy, which has been adopted in 1992. New strategies to increase water supply in rural and urban areas have been adopted in 2005 and 2006. Tariffs in urban and rural areas are usually high enough to cover the costs for operation and maintenance.

Drinking water supply and sanitation in Pakistan is characterized by some achievements and many challenges. In 2020, 68% Pakistanis, 72% Indians, 54% Bangladeshi had access to the basic sanitation facilities. Despite high population growth the country has increased the share of the population with access to an improved water source from 85% in 1990 to 92% in 2010, although this does not necessarily mean that the water from these sources is safe to drink. The share with access to improved sanitation increased from 27% to 38% during the same period, according to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation. There has also been considerable innovation at the grass-root level, in particular concerning sanitation. The Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi and community-led total sanitation in rural areas are two examples of such innovation.

Water supply and sanitation in Iran has witnessed some important improvements, especially in terms of increased access to urban water supply, while important challenges remain, particularly concerning sanitation and service provision in rural areas. Institutionally, the Ministry of Energy is in charge of policy and provincial companies are in charge of service provision.

Water supply and sanitation in Tanzania is characterised by: decreasing access to at least basic water sources in the 2000s, steady access to some form of sanitation, intermittent water supply and generally low quality of service. Many utilities are barely able to cover their operation and maintenance costs through revenues due to low tariffs and poor efficiency. There are significant regional differences and the best performing utilities are Arusha and Tanga.

Water supply and sanitation in Vietnam is characterized by challenges and achievements. Among the achievements is a substantial increase in access to water supply and sanitation between 1990 and 2010, nearly universal metering, and increased investment in wastewater treatment since 2007. Among the challenges are continued widespread water pollution, poor service quality, low access to improved sanitation in rural areas, poor sustainability of rural water systems, insufficient cost recovery for urban sanitation, and the declining availability of foreign grant and soft loan funding as the Vietnamese economy grows and donors shift to loan financing. The government also promotes increased cost recovery through tariff revenues and has created autonomous water utilities at the provincial level, but the policy has had mixed success as tariff levels remain low and some utilities have engaged in activities outside their mandate.

Renewable energy in Afghanistan includes biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind power. Afghanistan is a landlocked country surrounded by five other countries. With a population of less than 35 million people, it is one of the lowest energy consuming countries in relation to a global standing. It holds a spot as one of the countries with a smaller ecological footprint. Hydropower is currently the main source of renewable energy due to Afghanistan's geographical location. Its large mountainous environment facilitates the siting of hydroelectric dams and other facets of hydro energy.

Reuse of human excreta is the safe, beneficial use of treated human excreta after applying suitable treatment steps and risk management approaches that are customized for the intended reuse application. Beneficial uses of the treated excreta may focus on using the plant-available nutrients that are contained in the treated excreta. They may also make use of the organic matter and energy contained in the excreta. To a lesser extent, reuse of the excreta's water content might also take place, although this is better known as water reclamation from municipal wastewater. The intended reuse applications for the nutrient content may include: soil conditioner or fertilizer in agriculture or horticultural activities. Other reuse applications, which focus more on the organic matter content of the excreta, include use as a fuel source or as an energy source in the form of biogas.

Fecal sludge management (FSM) is the storage, collection, transport, treatment and safe end use or disposal of fecal sludge. Together, the collection, transport, treatment and end use of fecal sludge constitute the "value chain" or "service chain" of fecal sludge management. Fecal sludge is defined very broadly as what accumulates in onsite sanitation systems and specifically is not transported through a sewer. It is composed of human excreta, but also anything else that may go into an onsite containment technology, such as flushwater, cleansing materials, menstrual hygiene products, grey water, and solid waste. Fecal sludge that is removed from septic tanks is called septage.

Decentralized wastewater systems convey, treat and dispose or reuse wastewater from small and low-density communities, buildings and dwellings in remote areas, individual public or private properties. Wastewater flow is generated when appropriate water supply is available within the buildings or close to them.

Emergency sanitation is the management and technical processes required to provide sanitation in emergency situations. Emergency sanitation is required during humanitarian relief operations for refugees, people affected by natural disasters and internally displaced persons. There are three phases of emergency response: Immediate, short term and long term. In the immediate phase, the focus is on managing open defecation, and toilet technologies might include very basic latrines, pit latrines, bucket toilets, container-based toilets, chemical toilets. The short term phase might also involve technologies such as urine-diverting dry toilets, septic tanks, decentralized wastewater systems. Providing handwashing facilities and management of fecal sludge are also part of emergency sanitation.

References

↑ Federal Ministry for economic cooperation and development

External links

BORDA Bremen

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[1] Federal Ministry for economic cooperation and development

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