Wednesday, May 20, 2009

ELA Newsletter # 2

ELA News 2 - April 17, 2009
This is an electronic newsletter of the Empowerment and Local Action (ELA) team, Women in Europe for a Common Future. Please, contact Tetyana Penteado for questions, news to be included and all other information.

Contents of this issue:
International Expert Conference Asbestos: Policies and Practices in Kazakhstan and the EU.
Information on Energy Saving Lamps (in Russian).
Debrief on PHAEST Training in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.

1. International Expert Conference Asbestos: Policies and Practices in Kazakhstan and the EU
Dear Partners of the ELA Program,

The good quality of toilet being constructed in the context of the ELA Program is very important to you and us. Also, it is important to use available materials which are not too expensive. Among these materials is asbestos-cement sheet, “shifr”. This material is widely available, robust, not too expensive, being produced locally – and is used very often to cover the roofs of the dry toilets built in your projects. But asbestos is also very dangerous to people’s health. Asbestos consists of tiny fibers, which are very sharp. Especially people working in the production of asbestos or working with it during e.g. construction are inhaling these
fibers. The fibers cause wounds, incinerations, and tumors in the lungs and the pleura causing lung cancer or pleural cancer. The International Labor Organization estimates asbestos causes 100.000 deaths each year through occupational exposure alone. Asbestos is therefore banned in many countries all over the world, among them Germany and the Netherlands. All of you and WECF are concerned about people’s health and wellbeing. This concern is the driving force of all our activities; it is also the driving force behind our activities in the field of Ecological Sanitation. Covering the roof of a dry toilet - a toilet we believe is good for its users’ health and well-being – with a material that poses great risks to this very health and well-being is clearly a contradiction. It has therefore been decided that we cannot endorse the use of asbestos-cement sheets or any material containing asbestos in WECF-funded projects.

WECF is fighting for the ban of asbestos also in the countries of the EECCA region, is trying to influence the political leaders of, among others, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Canada to ban asbestos, and to include it in the PIC list of hazardous substances according to the Rotterdam Convention procedures. Please support this fight in practice by saying “NO” to asbestos and refusing to use it.

Please find below the information on the International expert conference on asbestos.

Topic: Policies and Practices in Kazakhstan and the EU.

Date: April 20-21, 2009.

Location: Hotel Diplomat, Astana, Kazakhstan.

Participants: The Kazakh and international experts and scientists; the representatives of the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization and NGOs; the governmental officials of Germany, France and the Netherlands.

Issues: The potential health and environmental risks of asbestos production; economic aspects of asbestos production; strategy development on asbestos in Kazakhstan.

Organizers: Eco-Forum NGO, Kazakhstan, in cooperation with the Green Women NGO, Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Environment of Kazakhstan, WECF, the Ministry of Environment of Germany, France and the Netherlands, with the financial support of the European Commission.

Gero Fedtke (ELA Programme coordinator)

2. Information on Energy Saving Lamps

Энергосберегающие лампы: на что следует обратить внимание
Рекомендации нашего эксперта Герберта Даннер

Уважаемые партнеры,

Mногие из Вас занимаются вопросами энергии, в частности планируют распространение и популяризацию энергосберегающих ламп.
В связи с этим, мы хотим поделиться с Вами информацией, о чем следует задуматься и на что следует обратить внимание при приобретении и использовании энергосберегающих ламп.

- окружающая среда

Согласно нормам Европейского Союза содержание ртути в энергосберегающих ламочках не должно превышать 5 мг. Сожержание ртути в качественных лампочках составляет половину от данной нормы, в то время, как в дешевом импорте из Китая, Бангладеша и других стран оно частично доходит до 30 мг.
Исходя из стандартов ЕС, выброс ртути в энергосберегающих ламп меньше, чем в обычных ламп накаливания, так как при производстве и использовании лампы накаливания потребляют больше электричества. НО даже в этом случае энергосберегающие лампы не следует выбрасывать с бытовыми отходами. Их необходимо собирать и утилизировать отдельно.

- излучение

Электро-магнитное излучение от энергосберегающих ламп вызвано стартером лампы. Чтобы избежать этого, убедитесь, что электросберегающие лампы находятся на достаточном расстоянии. Поскольку в классных комнатах, к примеру, высота потолка, как правило, достаточна большая, более 1,5 метра над головами учителей и учащихся, то вероятность повышенного излучения на уровне голов невелика. Для чтения на близком расстоянии использование энергосберегающих ламп не рекомендуется. Итак, держите их на расстоянии!

- цвет света

Надпись на упаковке лампочки «теплый, цвет белый» ближе всему соответствует цвету обычной лампы накаливания. Этому цвету обычно также соответствует номер «цвет 827». На это необходимо обращать внимание.
Если у Вас есть вопросы, пожалуйста образайтеся к нам. Наша команда по энергии всегда рада помочь!

ELA & Energy team

3. PHAEST Training in Osh, Kyrgyzstan
On April 6-9th, during the PHAEST training in Osh (Southern Kyrgyzstan), twenty participants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan were trained in ecological sanitation and hygiene, principles of facilitation, conditions for providing a training for facilitators, setting-up a structure of local facilitators in villages and received the opportunity to facilitate a PHAEST exercise themselves.
So, what does PHAEST stand for? PHAST or Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation is a world-wide used methodology for hygiene behavioral change. It is developed by WHO and adapted to Kyrgyz circumstances by DFID. Central Asian Alliances for Water (CAAW) has more than six years experience in conducting PHAST in villages through a network of local facilitators. Since the implementation of ecosan technologies goes hand in hand with hygiene behavior, it has been high time to transform PHAST into PHAEST or Participatory Hygiene and Ecological Sanitation Transformation.
The PHAEST training consisted of the following steps:
1. Participant’ anonymous voting on their last hygienically behavior (e.g. What did they do after their toilet visit? Nothing, washing hands or washing hands with soap). This gave insight and awareness of people’s current behavior.
2. Participants categorizing pictures into bad, average or good hygiene behavior. Additionally, participants were asked to make new pictures for more discussion and insights.
3. A group presentation of a safe versus unsafe toilet.
4. Participants demonstrating how pathogens transfer from toilet to body (flies, hands, field, water) and how this can be blocked (in pictures).
5. A gender analysis exercise that had men and women to work separately on a day schedule of men and women. It gave insight on how different women and men’s roles were regarding hygiene and sanitation.
6. Installation of a demonstration UDDT and cleaning materials, followed by discussion and feedback.
7. The Closing the Loop exercise that encouraged the participants to demonstrate the cycle of nutrients without risks for health and the environment. The participants were very creative and showed their awareness of all hygienic risks.
Many good ideas arose during the training for further integration of PHAST and the Ecological Sanitation. The representatives from every country made a plan to implement PHAEST back home.
Fedde Jorritsma (Field Officer in Central Asia)

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