Starting Out

The project team has arrived in Sierra Leone! We are very happy to have received the grant from the Humanitarian Innovation Fund and are confident that it will contribute to substantial understanding of the water supply systems in Tonkolili district, that were provided by NGOs as part of the post-war relief efforts.

The HIF grant will fund all field research carried out to determine and develop an innovative methodology for analysing the impact of post-conflict water systems in this district.

The research is a shared collaboration between Edinburgh University and Concern Worldwide. The project team will be based in the Concern field office in Magburka, Tonkolili district.

Currently, we are in the preliminary stages of determining the villages where we will conduct our research. We are also finalising the household surveys which will be carried out over the next month. Addionally, we are on the hunt for bicycles to help us to travel around the villages.

From here, we will begin moving into the field, meeting local chiefs, making connections with various community members and conducting our first round of household surveys. More on all this to follow…

Paul Byars – PhD Researcher, Edinburgh University