44 results for tag: research

Improving Collections with Human-Centered Design

As a part of SOIL’s research and development initiatives and human centered design optimization, our research team has identified a number of projects to help improve efficiency for our service. This includes ongoing research on identifying ways to make the composting process faster and cheaper so that we’ll be able to treat more waste at SOIL’s composting waste treatment site in Mouchinette, as well as optimizing our collection routes to reduce mileage. Over the past few months, our team has again focused on a human-centered design approach to improve the construction of our collection vehicles. One of the biggest challenges we face in ...

Better, Cheaper, Faster: Researching Ways to Improve SOIL’s Composting Process

Over the last six months, SOIL has made exciting and significant progress in expanding access to dignified and reliable sanitation for vulnerable communities in Haiti.  In order to continue on this upward trend, we at SOIL are working hard to produce innovative approaches to support our growth strategy to accommodate more households on the service and the additional increase in waste to treat.   To help with our strategy, we are once again partnering with Human Centered Design experts, Lukas Baumgartner and Jojo Linder, consultants from Kreativ Konsum and Kompotoi. The creative design duo, has worked with us on a number of projects to improve ...

Research Collaboration Has Increased Efficiency of EkoLakay Collection

photo credit: Felipe Jacome The SOIL team is continually researching and testing new ways to increase our operational efficiency in order to provide better sanitation solutions and position our service for sustained growth.  In April we began implementing a new routing app that optimizes the collection routes between our customers’ households in Cap-Haitien. The app was developed for SOIL by DataKind, a nonprofit that collaborates with organizations to design and build out impactful data tools.   The SOIL Research team has been working closely with DataKind to understand and trial ways to make our collection services more efficient using tools ...

Composting Across Countries: A visit to Kompotoi in Switzerland

As SOIL continues to grow and expand our services in Haiti, we recognize the need to keep improving our operations efficiency, deepening our research, and exploring what others in the sector are doing. We love visiting our container-based sanitation and composting friends around the world, because it gives us a chance to see firsthand what else is going on in the sanitation sector. While back in her home country of France, SOIL’s Compost Program Advisor and Waste Management Engineer Julie Jeliazovski took a trip over the border to Switzerland to visit Kompotoi, a mobile dry composting toilet service for the eco-conscious, run by JoJo Linder. Komp...

Reflections on Research: Biogeochemist Gavin McNicol shares insights from his research at SOIL

Gavin McNicol and a team of researchers at SOIL's compost facility in Haiti. Earlier this summer, SOIL was pleased to share newly published research in the journal Nature Climate Change  that revealed groundbreaking analysis on SOIL’s sanitation solution and climate mitigation potential.  We are particularly grateful for the remarkable and dedicated team of researchers who worked on this research with SOIL, and who are endeavoring to help solve the global climate crisis while simultaneously promoting the inclusivity of vulnerable and less privileged populations in the climate conversation. We are thrilled to share a brief personal reflection on ...

SOIL’s EkoLakay Toilet Service Bridging the Gap in Haiti’s Sanitation Sector

“It allows you to live with dignity.” A new analysis conducted by SOIL on the long-term trajectory of SOIL’s user base reveals some promising data on sustained access to sanitation. Millions of people in Haiti lack access to private improved sanitation (privately owned latrine, flush toilet or dry toilet). Without access to private sanitation options, people must find an alternative means for sanitation through a shared latrine or toilet, a neighbor’s toilet, a church or school toilet, a public toilet or latrine, or open defecation. With a significant portion of the population living without a private option, the lack of safely managed ...

Job Opening: Research and Analysis Fellow

Innovative, award-winning non-profit organization with over twelve years of demonstrated success in Haiti seeks a Research and Analysis Fellow to conduct analyses and manage on-site research to help SOIL achieve strategic goals and advance knowledge in the sanitation sector. Title Research and Analysis Fellow Primary Work Location Remote-based to begin with the intention of relocation to Cap-Haitien, Haiti in future months Availability As soon as possible Positions Open 1 Posting date February 25, 2020 Application Deadline March 9, 2020 ABOUT SOIL SOIL is an award-winning organization founded in 2006, ...

Training a New Generation of Sanitation Researchers

SOIL intern, Wenley Moïse, extracting samples from the liquid filters installed underneath SOIL's composting bins to take to the lab for testing. SOIL loves providing opportunities for students in Haiti to work with our team and gain valuable hands-on experience in the sanitation sector to help jumpstart their careers. Over the past six months, SOIL research partner Dr. Rebecca Ryals has been conducting a study on optimal composting conditions at our waste treatment facilities. The study looks at whether using different lining materials (concrete vs. a natural soil lining) in the composting bins impacts the leaching of nutrients or pathogens ...

Understanding Why Families Join SOIL’s Sanitation Service

SOIL provides employment in Haiti’s sanitation sector to more than 70 people, but beyond that, we strive to provide employment and internship opportunities whenever possible. Recently, SOIL hired 15 university students from various academic backgrounds in northern Haiti to assist with a study we are conducting to better understand why people join and remain a part of SOIL’s EkoLakay sanitation service. Background on the Research The 26-day long study took place in Cap-Haitïen alongside our partners at OPEPA, the Haitian Government’s local water and sanitation authority in the northern region, and researchers at the University of Oregon, ...

Women in WASH: Meet SOIL Research Partners

Though the stories often go untold, women have changed the trajectory of global history through their contributions to the field of science and technology.  As a women-led organization working to pioneer innovative ecological solutions to a tough global challenge, we are inspired by the legacy of women, both in the WASH sector and in STEM more broadly, who have come before us. We are also inspired daily by the incredible women who make up our team, either as full-time staff or as partners on research projects, whose ability to dream big and think boldly pushes SOIL further. This summer SOIL had a variety of exciting studies underway, all of ...