Needs and Feasibility: A Guide for Engineers in Community Projects - The Case of Waste for Life

Abstract Needs and Feasibility: A Guide for Engineers in Community Projects -- The Case of Waste for Life is the story of Waste for Life (WFL). WFL is a not-for-profit organization that works to promote poverty-reducing solutions to environmental problems, and its educational branch is an international consortium of universities in six countries, involving students in support of community development projects. WFL currently works in Lesotho and Argentina. We present the story of the development of WFL in each country as a case-based guide to engineers, professors and students interested in community development work, particularly in contexts very different from their own. We focus mainly on the set-up stages, framing the projects to ensure that community needs are adequately articulated and acted upon. We begin with needs assessment, what is it that needs to be done -- for whom and why? How feasible is this, technically, economically, and can we guarantee sustainability? Before we can decide any of this, ...

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