Energy and sanitation solution for social inclusion

Graduated in Interdisciplinary Bachelor in Marine Science and Sea Technology (March/2014--Dec/2016), in the same university. Wellington Fonseca, 28 years old, Master's student at the Institute of Energy and Environment of the University of São Paulo (IEE-USP) and currently enrolled in the last semester of Petroleum Engineering and Renewable Resources at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP). Therefore, it is extremely important to visualize the water-energy-food nexus as something integrated, as can be seen in Figure 4.

Access to energy has been one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals since 2015, reinforcing the importance of this topic, especially in developing countries and rural communities without access to sanitation and energy infrastructure. It is from the 1970s that the first approaches to create a unified regulatory model for sanitation in the country, being 2007 the most important year to date with the entry into force of the Federal Law No. In Baixada Santista (region we have chosen to carry out our project), the main challenge for the universalization of the water supply service will be the coverage of the public network in subnormal agglomerates and disconnected communities, places where it is not possible to provide basic sanitation install facilities.

This amounts to more than 205 Switzerland or 13 France (see figure 5), with such a territorial expansion, people's lives are very different, in the many corners of the country. We know that it is one of the countries with the highest income concentration, perhaps one of the 10 largest." It is clear that, even with government financial assistance programs, this part of the population is always under the access of people with better social conditions.

It can be made in different layouts and with different materials, depending on the intended use and scope of the project. Sometimes a filter is needed to remove most of the other unwanted compounds. Low-income communities in developing countries often lack the financial means to pay for a technological solution.

Apart from all this, the biodigester generates fertiliser, which can be collected in the lower part of the litre. For the success of the proposal, it is important to have solar power available to power the UV lamp and the water pumping system. The main limitation for the biodigester is the acceptance of the technology by the population of small communities, because it takes time and effort to function properly.

The method is not complex, but it is a habit that they do not have before the implementation of the solution. These technical limitations of the bioring tank must be addressed in new developments of the technology. It is important to have good communication, that it is able to listen to the stakeholders' claims and translate them into new innovations.

The lack of financial and material resources is one of the problems that affects all communities in Brazil.

4 - Implementation

One way to solve this is to provide support and, explain, what are the environmental, social and economic benefits for them, a rule that environmental education can help to solve. As a result, we developed biodigester and treated water brochures to be used as guidelines to help build and operate these technologies. As a result, our implementation process requires government funding or other financial support sources to apply the solution at no cost to those communities interested in implementing it.

For all social initiatives whose primary goal is to increase social inclusion, all cultural and local aspects must be taken into account in the implementation process. Therefore, Saniso-e will be a social enterprise that will fight for free access to basic sanitation and access to water for these local communities, respecting their way of life and their cultural identity. The basic idea for the implementation of the solutions proposed by our group is in accordance with the concept of social entrepreneurship and results in the creation of a social enterprise.

Social impact businesses seek to develop products and services that serve vulnerable communities, bring benefits to these locations and contribute to the transformation and social inclusion of these locations. An important point to consider is that a social enterprise differs from philanthropy as it is self-sustaining without depending on donations or the sale of its products as a source of income, a social enterprise has its product as a reason for social impact and not the actions that follow from the sale of products or services. To implement the proposed solutions, we will start with the application of a pilot business model to create a social company, going through the prototyping processes where we aim to develop the product, understand the value proposition and identify the potential solution to the problem that the solution can provide.

After the prototype, we will continue with product validation and company implementation, where we will study economic feasibility, ways to access credit (announcements, agreements with government entities, development agencies, business incubators and accelerators) and tests with the target audience to validate the solution. After the product validation, with the tests performed and the consolidation of the product adherence, we will carry out the market validation where we will seek to obtain the first sales of the product, study the market, customers, better understand and refine the company's business model so that it can achieve its goals of being sustainable in a particular market and achieve the expected social impact. With the business consolidated, the last phase of the company is to seek scale, to influence the largest number of people and prepare for the growth phase.

With this methodology we believe that we can make the social impact of the proposed solutions viable.

5 - Final considerations

6 - Booklets

BIODIGESTER

WATER PURIFIER

7 - References

Energia e Mulheres e Meninas: Análise das Necessidades, Usos e Impacto da Energia em Mulheres e Meninas no Mundo em Desenvolvimento. Grande oportunidade: limpar a energia doméstica para a saúde, desenvolvimento sustentável e bem-estar de mulheres e crianças. Mobilização social e comunicação em políticas públicas: o caso do plano regional de gestão integrada de resíduos sólidos da Baixada Santos (prgirs/bs).