Technische universiteiten en duurzame ontwikkeling in Afrika: een interfacultair studenten onderzoeksproject voor het 33e lustrumsymposium van de Technische Universiteit Delft

In 2007, Delft University of Technology celebrates its 165th birthday. This unique occasion iscelebrated with several activities revolving around the subject "Sustainable Solutions, with afocus on Africa".For the interdisciplinary course "Technical Universities and Sustainable development ofAfrica" a group of eight students under supervision of prof. Ir. C.A.J. Duijvestein and drs. ing.G. de Vries of Delft University of Technology attempted to find an answer to the question:"What can technical universities contribute to sustainable development, especially with regardto Africa?"This report contains the results of this course. Its goal is to create more awareness for thestudents of Delft University of Technology and their employees on the sustainabledevelopment of Africa.First, global models like the Millennium goals, the Ecological Footprint, the EnvironmentalSustainability Index and the Environmental Performance Index were researched in order tofind keystones for answering this question. In what way do these models take technologydevelopment into account? Which topics would be interesting for technical universities? Dothe models just analyze or do they also give solutions for improvements?Generally, there are two classes of models: The analytic model, which looks at the past andthe current situation, and the objective based model, which sets goals for the future and theway to get there. For example, the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) and theEnvironmental Performance Index (EPI) are true analytic models whereas the MillenniumDevelopment Goals model is an objective based one. The objective models give technicaluniversities a much clearer direction on which they should focus in the future. Besides,engineers work better with goals, because they are trained in solution thinking. The analyticmodels are used mostly to analyze the development of the objective models and checkwhether they give a positive result.The target of all models is to increase understanding of a difficult theme and analyse it on acountry level. These models and the data they are based on will give the policy makers ofthese countries greater awareness of the positive and negative developments in their country.In a way they can be considered a kind of marketing tool to ask attention for a certain subject.The original goal of the models is not to create research assignments for technicaluniversities; they are intended to give direction to the development of a country and bringabout policy changes on a national level. Even though a lot of technical solutions lie on thelocal level, there are several returning global topics which are relevant to technicaluniversities.- Water managementTechnical universities can look into solutions to guarantee both proper water quality andquantity, therefore preventing water stress. Research should cover the access to cleandrinking water, good sanitation and sustainable irrigation for the inhabitants as well asreducing the water use by industrial processes.- EnergyWhere energy is concerned, topics found in the models are the reduction of primary energyusage, the reduction of energy usage of products and the development of renewableenergy sources. Technical universities can research these problems and help definesolutions.- FoodTechnical universities can search for methods to increase the crop yield per unit of surface.- HealthAlthough health does not look like a topic befitting a technical university, it is possible thattechnical solutions could be given for solving health problems. Examples are guaranteeinga good indoor climate, developing good health care appliances or increasing the lifeexpectancy of people by improving sanitation measures and other means.