Three students from The University of Queensland (UQ) have won the chance to deliver appropriate technology and services in sanitation and energy for rural communities in Cambodia.
Daniel Gillick, Victoria Flannery and Aron Gibbs were awarded fellowships with The Resolution Project, a not-for-profit organisation which strives to empower a community of young leaders through collaborative social entrepreneurship.
The fellowships came as a result of the students’ recent success at the Resolution Social Venture Challenge, hosted by the World Model United Nations Forum (WorldMUN) in Vancouver, Canada.
Bachelor of Psychology student Victoria Flannery said the challenge brought together youths from across the globe, allowing them to network with other socially minded university students.
“The challenge brought together participants from a multitude of backgrounds, who all shared a deep interest in international development,” Miss Flannery said.
The students received $3,000 in seed funding and support towards their social enterprise, Total Sanitation.
The team is currently working on the design and development of bio-digestion facilities for floating communities in Phat Sanday and on the Tonle Sap Lake, in partnership with Engineers Without Borders and Live And Learn.
2011 Bachelor of Engineering graduate, Daniel Gillick said the technology offers an exciting opportunity to communities who have limited access to infrastructure that can effectively treat and manage waste generated by humans and livestock.
“Most villages in Tonle Sap adopt a very simple, in-house method of disposing their waste,” Mr Gillick said.
“This is having a devastating effect on the ecology of the lake system and the health of villagers who rely on the lake.
“The bio-digestion facilities our team are proposing will divert this waste, before treating and processing it in mind of economic and environmental constraints that exist in the region.
“As the waste product is processed, the facilities will also produce a biofuel which can be captured, stored and distributed for heat and power generation purposes,” Mr Gillick said.
The concept arose from an undergraduate research project Mr Gillick and a group of fellow engineering students undertook last year for Engineers Without Borders during Engineers Australia’s Make it So campaign.
“The team is exploring wider commercial opportunities available as the facilities are ramped up and become operational,” Mr Gillick said.
“We hope to encourage local entrepreneurs to take the lead in these projects by building relationships with new and existing businesses in the region, which have the capacity to further develop, produce and supply these facilities.”
The students attended WorldMUN as part of UQ’s first delegation to the forum.
WorldMUN, facilitated by Harvard University aims to empower youth to shape a better future under the premises of the United Nations.
It is attended by 2,000 university students of leadership calibre, from internationally diverse backgrounds.
World Model United Nations Forum page
The Social Venture Challenge hosted by The Resolution Project
Media: Daniel Gillick (daniel.gillick@totalsanitation.org or +614 21 085 467) or Madelene Flanagan (m.flanagan@uq.edu.au or +61 7 3365 8525)
