Three international organizations canceled $1.2 billion of Haiti’s debt Tuesday, freeing up millions of dollars each year for the deeply impoverished Caribbean nation that is beset by humanitarian crises.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund said their boards decided this week to forgive Haiti’s obligations to the two organizations, a move that triggered previously announced debt relief from the Inter-American Development Bank.
The actions erased nearly two-thirds of Haiti’s outstanding debt. As of April, Haiti owned more than $1.9 billion, according to the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.
I'd like to invite you to AIDG's Annual Meeting occurring this Sunday, May 3, 2009 from 5-7PM!
Come find out what your help has allowed us to do in the first part of 2009. If you weren't able to make our holiday party in December, you don't want to miss this.
AIDG founder, Peter Haas, will give you a lively rundown of our programs in Haiti and Guatemala. On the Haiti front, we have the results from Konkou Biznis Ayiti, our very first business plan competition to commercialize biogas in Northern Haiti. From the 16 teams that entered, we have our winner. Find out how they plan to convert waste into a clean burning fuel and fertilizer this Sunday.
Our Guatemala program is currently undergoing a radical transformation. We are completely upgrading our R&D facility so that we can better design technologies that meet the needs of underserved communities. These changes will also allow us to collaborate with more university groups and businesses that share our mission.
The AIDG team in Guatemala is preparing for a 2nd business plan competition to take place this fall. The focus will be water, energy, and sanitation technologies.
So come join us on Sunday. Let us show you some of what we've been able to achieve with your dedicated support.
Keeping it Green,
Cat Laine
Details
Location: Weston Community Center, 20 Alphabet Lane, Weston, MA 02493 Date: Sunday, May 3rd Time: 5PM - 7PM
Light refreshments will be served.
Snapshots from the field
The 5 finalist teams for AIDG's biogas business plan competition, Konkou Biznis Ayiti. Over the course of one week, these teams went through an intensive series of training sessions to help them refine their business concept. We'll be announcing the contest winner at the end of the week.
SakisDecossard of Own Energy, Peter Haas and Catherine Laine of AIDG after all long day's training session with the contest's finalists. I want to give a special thanks to Sakis, who traveled down to Haiti from NYC to serve as one of our judges in the competition.
The new AIDG compound: 3 story office and training space. Not shown: intern housing, garden, storage and workshop space.
AIDG Guatemala and a visiting mechanical engineering team from Michigan State University. The university team was working on a novel idea for solar refrigeration. Their ultimate aim is to improve vaccine delivery in areas with poor access to electricity and modern refrigeration technologies.
Jeb Gutelius and AIDG Board Member Benny Lee on a site visit to La Fe in Guatemala. In 2007, XelaTeco repaired La Fe's 75 kW hydroelectric plant that serves the community and powers their agricultural machinery. The transmission lines to the right of the power house (seen above) were installed by XelaTeco this year as Phase II of the project. Phase III will be further improvement and expansion of the minigrid to homes of the community's 100 families.
This year’s Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography went to Miami Herald’s Patrick Farrell for his coverage of Haiti in 2008. His award winning photo-essay, “A People in Despair: Haiti’s year without mercy“, documents some of Haiti’s most brutal struggles.
4 of the 20 images that make up the photo-essay.
Deforested mountains funneled Tropical Storm Hannah’s rainfall directly into Gonaives, flooding the town of 350,000
Frantz Samedi holds the lifeless body of his 5 year old daughter, Tamasha Jean, who died when Hurricane Ike’s flood waters swept children and the elderly from their homes in the small Haitian town of Cabaret
Shadows of children dance across a small tent city - temporary shelter for homeless families - in Cabaret
Mardoshe Thelisma cries at a funeral mass for her cousin and 90 others, who were crushed to death when the 3 story College La Promesse collapsed in Petionville outside Port-au-Prince
Here are some choice tweets from the past week. Some abbreviations have been expanded for readability and to not incur the wrath of grammarians.
After an intense week at our business plan/biogas workshop we’re at the penultimate day. We’re having the teams practice their pitches. Yesterday
GPS coordinates for our Haiti office: 19 45.816 -72 12.021. One of our composting toilets in Shada 19 44.896 -72 12.274. * 7:48 AM Apr 1st
Haiti needs jobs. With 900,000 youths coming into the job market in next five years, dismal prospects are the main threat to stability. [NYT] http://bit.ly/RvDn 8:04 AM Mar 31st
Reading comments in NYTimes story about Haiti [ http://tinyurl.com/d7k5mb ], it’s clear that ppl don’t know many factors influencing family size in dev countries :( 4:48 PM Mar 29th
The most lively conversations we had yesterday with the finalists were about corruption and debt vs equity. 3:58 PM Mar 29th
@nytimeskristof just did a great piece on our friends SOIL, an NGO that does composting toilets in Cap Haitien http://bit.ly/EEk4l 8:27 AM Mar 29th
First day AIDG Konkou 8 hours of lecture ahead, turn on acer, no boot, bricked bios, no backup USB , thank god for core knowledge and chalk! 7:37 PM Mar 28th
Not sure why the UN peacekeepers are walking around with guns at the ready today. The city seems otherwise quite calm. They’re making people nervous. 8:15 PM Mar 27th
All 5 finalists in our 1st comp in Haiti were men. We need to try harder next time around to recruit female entrepreneurs.2:37 PM Mar 27th
Dorit Leavitt in Guate: AIDG’s 2nd business plan competition is in the works in Guatemala. The theme is: water, energy, and sanitation!
Sam Redfield, Project Manager of AIDG’s pico-hydro program in Guatemala was just accepted for MIT’s International Development Design Summit in Ghana this summer! Here is an account of some of his work at our new facility in Guatemala. Keep an eye out for the build manual he is producing for the Five Gallon Bucket Generator!
Hi everyone. I’m back in Xela, home of AIDG’s offices and research facility in Central America. Big things are happening down here. This January we moved into a beautiful new compound. Rising above the neighboring buildings, the new office resembles a pagoda. Its red corrugated roof flanking three stories of golden clapboard walls is something of an enigma in a neighborhood dominated by low concrete block houses. In addition to much needed additional office space, we now have a new fabrication shop, electronics and water lab and, under construction, housing to accommodate several interns and visiting researchers. The new office is full of light and the staff and interns that work here are noticeably happier with the new work space. In what can be chilly mornings in a city perched at roughly 7000 ft., it’s nice to work in a place where the brilliant morning sun comes in through the windows and warms the space.
I have returned to Xela to continue my work on the pico-hydro system that I field tested in La Florida last year. Pico-hydro systems are small hydroelectric generators that produce less than one kilowatt of power. We are looking at using the generator to provide basic lighting, cell phone charging and ultra violet water purification in under served communities. Housed in a five gallon bucket, and employing a modified car alternator driven by a turbine, the generator promises the potential of cheap clean energy to those without access to the electricity grid.
Pico-hydro test in La Florida in 2008
The Permanent Magnet Alternator
Last year, we established that the generator was viable as a single point power source that could be installed quickly with limited resources and could produce consistent power with modest water usage. Still unresolved were issues of cost, longevity of service and overall performance for electrical output. The generator was built using a rather expensive modified GM alternator produced in the States for the home brew wind turbine market. This modified alternator, called a permanent magnet alternator (PMA) produces energy at low RPM’s and works well in small-scale hydroelectric systems. In addition to the price, (more that $300.00 U.S.), the alternator would have to be shipped to its destination country, adding additional cost. The PMA was by far the generator’s most expensive component and the only element in the system that would need to be imported, so we looked to it to reduce the generator’s overall cost.
My solution was to modify the Nippo Denso alternator produced for Toyota’s 22R engine. They key was using low-tech mods that could be cheaply and easily reproduced in a basic machine shop. The Nippo Denso alternator, found in most Toyota pickup trucks and many sedans in developing countries, might just be the most common alternator in the world. They are often shipped to developing countries to be rebuilt for the market in the US and other developed countries. Where in the States these alternators are simply replaced with rebuilt alternators when they fail, in developing countries there is extensive infrastructure to rebuild them. They are available in quantity in Guatemala and are cheap.
My design for the Toyota based PMA uses only the alternator casing and the stator (the wire coils that surround the rotor inside the alternator). For the conversion, the rotor is completely rebuilt with powerful neodymium magnets and the stator is rewound with thinner gage wire. Non-functioning Toyota alternators can be had for about $20.00 US in Guatemala if bought in bulk. The magnets are the only part of the new alternator that may need to be imported.
Left: Rebuilt permanent magnet rotor. Right: Toyota rotor.
Toyota based permanent magnet alternator
Our new hydro test bench
Last year we lacked the facilities to do extensive testing of the PMA and could only determine that, yes, it worked and that it produced energy at low RPM’s. But we couldn’t determine which gauge windings of the stator would produce the most power given the bucket generator’s RPM ranges. We needed more controlled study conditions, particularly as field tests were difficult to repeat (distance to test site, variability of water flow, etc.).
This past month, we set up both a hydro and a PMA test bench. The hydro test bench simulates the head and water flow rate that determine the output of a small hydroelectric system. By varying the head and flow in the test bench, we can simulate the various conditions under which the bucket generator operates and rate its performance under different loads.
Bucket generator connected to hydro test bench
We can’t directly measure the RPMs of the bucket generator when it is hooked up to the hydro test bench, but we can estimate this number using the PMA test bench. Simply put, we find the number of RPMs in the PMA test bench that replicates the current produced by our bucket generator in the hydro test bench, and thereby get an estimate of the bucket generator RPMs. Using the PMA test bench we can only investigate which windings offer us the highest current at the appropriate RPMs for the system.
PMA test bench
Direct comparison of the GM and Toyota PMAs is difficult due to differences in configuration, size and layout of the 2 systems. That said we were able to determine that the Toyota PMA offers performance in the same general range of the GM system and at a fraction of the cost. If manufactured in bulk, the Toyota PMA would come in at around $120.00 U.S. and the entire bucket generator could cost about $160.00 U.S.
Currently, we are trying to determine which wind of the Toyota PMA will give us the maximum current at the RPM ranges of the bucket generator system. At our maximum available head on the test bench, about 90’, we were able to produce over 1,200 RPMs and 90 watts. We expect to get more than 100 watts in the field at slightly higher heads. We don’t know yet what the maximum output will be.
This spring, we’ll be installing at least two of the bucket generators in Haiti to power ultra violet water purification equipment. A portion of the funding for this project was generously provided by St Peter’s Church in Weston. AIDG’s Haiti office is partnering with local NGOs, including our good friends at SOIL, to address the lack of clean potable water in their service areas. Each ultra violet purification device draws about 30 watts. With the generator, we expect to be able to power three or more UV devices at 100’ of head and 50 gallons a minute of flow. Currently, sites surveys are being conducted in Haiti to determine head and flow conditions and find suitable sites that provide year round consistent water. These long term test sites will provide data on performance as well as service and maintenance needs of the system.
We’ve been so busy over here at AIDG that unfortunately our blogging has fallen by the wayside. Good for our programs (yay!), bad for our readers (boo!). That said, I’ve have been twittering up a storm.
Here are some choice tweets from the past few weeks. Some abbreviations have been expanded for readability and to not incur the wrath of grammarians.
Haiti: From Natural Catastrophe to Economic Security by Paul Collier (Bottom Billion author ) [PDF] http://bit.ly/HPHI3. Today
Getting close to picking the Final 5 for our biogas biz plan compeition! Our extra push brought in some great apps from the community. Today
One of the dry composting public toilets we built with SOIL in the slum Shada is full. Yesterday we did some emptying at the compost site in Milot. 7:35 AM Mar 20th
Thinking about capital requirements for small business development in poor countries. It’s interesting to think about 10 Fortune 500 Companies that started w/little http://is.gd/lwSz . 8:10 PM Mar 19th
Pretty eye-opening and useful meeting with CHF International today. 8:00 PM Mar 18th
Bottom of the pyramid design is filled w/lots of vaporware. The design process tends 2B underfunded &/or paying clients can b hard 2 find. 1:53 PM Mar 18th
Checking out http://www.egiforhaiti.org/ and US based NGO that qualified Haitian university grads start small businesses. 12:42 PM Mar 16th
Had an excellent day talking to community groups about biogas and entrepreneurship. We’ve extended the business plan comp deadline to get more apps. 9:10 PM Mar 15th
4 ppl int in Last Mile internet, in Haiti we have NLOS wireless broadband provided by Access Haiti using Motorola’s Expedience. Wimax, baby. 12:38 PM Mar 14th
Woohoo. Jose Ordonez, our tech lead in Guatemala, & Meg Harper, a former intern, were both also accepted to MIT’s Int’l Dev Design Summit. 8:17 AM Mar 14th
3/3/86 Blast from the past: When was the last time that People magazine featured the wives of 3rd world dictators? http://tinyurl.com/aa9b73 . 12:01 AM Mar 13th
Congrats to Sam Redfield who got accepted to MIT’s Int’l Dev Design Summit taking place in Ghana this summer. 4:23 PM Mar 12th
Extended Call for Applications: AIDG is Sponsoring a Business Plan Competition to Promote Biogas Development in Northern Haiti
US$50,000 in grants and early-stage financing is available for the winning proposal.
Boston, 12/30/08 – The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG), a technology R&D and small business development non-profit, is calling for innovative and dynamic ideas for its 1st business plan competition in Northern Haiti, KonKou Biznis Ayiti. The purpose of the competition is to help smart and passionate Haitian entrepreneurs solve some of the most pressing issues facing Haiti today.
This year’s contest focuses on biogas, a form of renewable energy that can hold an important place in the sustainable development of Haiti. This methane-rich carbon neutral biofuel can be substituted for charcoal, propane, kerosene and other combustible fuels for the purposes of cooking, heating or even electricity generation. The by-product of its production is a nutrient rich liquid fertilizer that can significantly increase yields of certain crops.
The team with the most promising idea for commercializing biogas in Northern Haiti will receive US$50,000 in grants and early-stage business financing for implementation over 2 years. In addition to the cash awards, the winning team with receive technical training on a number of biogas systems as well as training on the best practices of enterprise management.
Applications are accepted until March 6th. Five finalists will be announced March 16th and will compete in Cap Haitien for the grand prize March 29 - April 4.
To learn more about the business plan competition or to apply, visit http://konkoubiznisayiti.com/
Key Contest Dates
* March 6, 2009: Deadline for submission of all business plans (5PM EST).
* March 16, 2009: 5 Finalists announced.
* March 29 - April 4, 2009: Finalists compete in Cap Haitien, Haiti for the grand prize.
* April 14, 2009: Winner/winning team announced.
With MINUSTAH’s mandate being extended in Haiti until October 2009, I figured this is a worthwhile talk to go to.
Peacekeeping: Can The U.N. Meet the Challenge? Date: Thursday, FEB. 5, 2009 Time: 6:00 PM Location: JFK Jr Forum, Littauer Building, 79 John F. Kennedy Street Cambridge, MA Speakers:
SUSANA MALCORRA
Under Secretary-General,
U.N. Department of Field Support
MICHAEL GAOUETTE
Darfur Integration Operation Team,
U.N. Dept. of Peacekeeping Operations
DAVID HARLAND
U.N. Europe and Latin America Division,
U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations
JACQUELINE BHABHA (Moderator)
Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer, Harvard Law School;
Director, Harvard Committee on Human Rights Studies
Change Haiti Can Believe In Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Time: 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Location: John F. Kennedy Library, Smith Center, Boston, MA Speakers:
Matt Damon, Paul Farmer, Linda Dorcena Forry, and Brian Concannon, Jr.
moderated by Amy Goodman Sponsors: Partners In Health and Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Description:
Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health; actor and activist Matt Damon, who recently visited Haiti to assist victims devastated by hurricanes; Massachusetts State Representative and Haitian American Linda Dorcena Forry; and Brian Concannon, Jr., director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, share their stories of eradicating disease and injustice in one of the world’s poorest nations, and discuss how changes in U.S. policy can help to build strength and prosperity. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, moderates.
I wanted to invite you to join me and the rest of the AIDG team for food, drinks and conversation at our 4th Annual Holiday Party. It's time to celebrate the good works that you helped make happen. As an added bonus, two of our teammates based in Guatemala will be in town for the festivities. Don't miss the chance to meet the crew. Click here to RSVP online.
Can’t wait to see you.
Warm Regards,
Cat Laine
Who: The AIDG team and you
What: Our way of saying thanks to the people who make our work possible
When: Sunday December 14, 2008 4 - 7 pm
Where: AIDG's Office at Encuentro5
33 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02111 (Chinatown)
Why: Because fighting against poverty and for environmental sustainability is a team effort. We couldn’;t do it without you.
To save cash and trees, we're doing mainly online invites this year instead of our normal paper ones. Please pass this message on to any friends you think might be interested. The more, the merrier!!!
If you want to volunteer at the event (you know you want to!), email me at claine@aidg.org. That goes double, if you have questions or problems RSVP’ing.
AIDG starts small businesses in Haiti and Guatemala to help underserved communities get affordable renewable energy, sanitation and clean water.
* FYI: the bird on the invite is the quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala, and the namesake for the town we’re based in, Quetzaltenango.
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