We're Back!

Heather, Isabel, Kanoot (as our baby is affectionately known) and I arrived back in Australia last week, one month earlier than originally planned. We left in a bit of a rush because of concerns over Heather's health. She's had a tough run of it in the six months of her pregnancy with various sicknesses and ailments. Fortunately, as far as we know, the baby seems to be doing well. 

Now that we're back, I've just started to reflect on our almost three years in Samoa. I drafted an article (that may or may not be published) for the Engineers Australia magazine. The article is reproduced below and I hope you'll find it an interesting account of life (with a work focus) in Samoa.

A Long Samoan Honeymoon

In March 2008, I ventured to the Pacific Island paradise of Samoa. It was a 12-month placement as a Hydrology Engineer with the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) program. Little did I know that almost three years later I’d still be there... as a rural water supply technical adviser... married... and with a child on the way.

It started out as a short tropical adventure. I’d been working in Scotland for two years and by the second winter I was in need of some sunshine. With five years engineering consultancy experience under my belt, I felt it was time to utilise those skills in a developing world context. I hadn’t planned on Samoa, but with my ‘bronzed Aussie look’ slowly fading, who was I to second guess such a providential assignment?

1. Volunteering with the Samoan Government

I was to work with the Water Resources Division (WRD) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, a division that had only been established in 2006. The WRD was set up to lead the Samoan Government’s management of the nation’s water resources, and I was tasked with developing their ability to undertake hydrological monitoring and assessment. My counterpart was responsible for two other office-based staff and up to ten field staff.

I had been prepared to undertake the tasks specified in the work plan, such as providing training on flood risk analysis, establishing a yield assessment program and specifying sustainable water extraction rates. However, it soon became clear that there were other more pressing issues.  

2. More Pressing Issues
Firstly, the existing hydrological monitoring network was very small. The Division operated only three river flow monitoring stations and five rain gauges throughout the whole country, with no water quality monitoring program or groundwater monitoring boreholes. The national hydrometric network had lacked long-term funding support, after the initial injection of funds in the 1970s saw up to twenty flow stations and thirteen rain gauges in operation.

Secondly, the data that was collected was of poor quality. Field measurements were often sloppy, very little information was documented, and large amounts of data was lost due to equipment malfunction or poor filing. Once in the office, data was neither centrally collected, nor registered and checked.

Thirdly, the majority of historical data had been destroyed during the major cyclones that hit Samoa in 1990 and 1991. What remained of the hard copy historical data was left gathering dust in filing cabinets, vulnerable to any future natural disasters.

And finally, there was little awareness amongst staff of the value of hydrological data and the purpose behind their monitoring. The Division didn’t really know their clients, and their clients hardly knew them!

3. Time for Action

So, with the help of regional partners from the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and the European Union-funded Water Sector Support Program (WaSSP), we began to develop the Division. Field equipment provision and short-term intensive training support from SOPAC kick-started the improvement of data collection. We began weekly training sessions on Fridays to consolidate the learning in previous weeks. We installed a number of new monitoring sites at locations agreed to by key stakeholders and donor partners. We began processing the large amounts of historical flow and rainfall data, even initiating a monthly competition to provide incentives for the most productive and accurate digitisers. Soon, the team had developed patterns of operating that could be documented and collated into an operation manual.

By the end of twelve months, I had written the Division’s first Data Management Manual, specifying the procedures for managing the increasingly large amounts of hydrological data being collected. We had registered, digitised and checked all of the available historical data, adding it to the now well-established national hydrological database. We had conducted several in-house training sessions on the value of hydrological data, the principles of data management, and the basics of GIS mapping. We were also now collaborating with the Electric Power Corporation on the long-term monitoring of potential hydropower sites. Oh yeah... I’d also just proposed to my girlfriend Heather: an AusAID posted officer I’d met six months earlier!

4. Time for Change

For several reasons then, I extended my placement as an Australian volunteer in Samoa. At eighteen months, I was married and honeymooning in Thailand and Laos when I received an email urging me to consider working for the Independent Water Schemes Association (IWSA). The WRD was at that stage operating fourteen river flow monitoring stations, fourteen rain gauges, ten routine water quality monitoring sites and three newly-constructed groundwater monitoring boreholes. Considering the benefits of stepping back from such a hands-on role with the WRD, and the needs of the newly-established and very small IWSA, I agreed to a part-time arrangement: three days with IWSA and two days with WRD.

At two years in Samoa, I was providing technical advice to village-managed water supply schemes while offering occasional support to the WRD’s hydrological monitoring program. While at the IWSA, I was fortunate enough to oversee the upgrade of five rural water supply schemes and finalise the conceptual designs for another thirteen schemes. Also at that time were the final consultations for Samoa’s Water Services Policy, of which I was able to provide input. I could hardly believe I’d found a job where I could both work on valuable grass-roots projects while also having access to national policy discussion! 

5. Time to Leave
But like most good things, it had to come to an end. Heather’s posting was due to finish in early-2011, around the same time our baby is due. We agreed that late-2010 was a good time for us to come home.

So we’ve only just said goodbye to Samoa. It was a much longer and more rewarding honeymoon than I’d expected. Yes, international development work can be hard and slow. I was very fortunate though to be placed in a well-supported (and well-funded) setting where, after almost three years, I have seen measurable progress. It has been satisfying to see some tangible development of the water sector in Samoa. In the big picture, I played quite a small role. Nevertheless, I hope my contribution has made some sort of positive impact in the long-term. I think that’s one of the main reasons I became an engineer.