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April 2004 |
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Helping Beijing Improve Air Quality with Sophisticated
Modeling System
With an eye to 2008--the
year China hosts the Olympics--officials in Beijing are
accelerating efforts to reduce the city's air pollution.
RTI will assist by developing a state-of-the-art air quality
management decision support system (AQMDSS) for Beijing.
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quality in Beijing can change dramatically
within the span of a few hours. RTI will develop
an air quality modeling and forecasting system
to assist Beijing officials in making long-term
improvements to the city's air quality in
preparation for the 2008 Green Olympics. [PHOTOS:
Bob Zerbonia] |
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RTI
is leveraging expertise in environmental engineering and
geographic information systems (GIS) to create the AQMDSS,
which will integrate several existing air quality models.
"We will tie different off-the-shelf models into
one system to present the user with a complete picture
of air quality that is easy to interpret," said project
technical leader Jo Ellen Brandmeyer. This unique "modular"
approach has the added advantage that when one of the
models changes, "you just have to reconfigure that
one model, not the entire system," she noted.
RTI
is working with PA Consulting Group, the prime contractor
for the project, and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which will create
an emission inventory of the city. This inventory will
identify the sources contributing to air pollution, from
factories and power plants to cars and small businesses
such as bakeries and laundries.
The
emission data, along with meteorological and other relevant
data, will be entered into the AQMDSS, which can then
output a variety of visual displays showing existing and
forecasted air quality. "You'll be able to ask, 'What
will the pollution level be tomorrow?' and get an accurate
answer," Brandmeyer said. The main goal, though,
is long-term control: The system will enable officials
to test proposed pollution control measures before implementing
them, letting them see the cost-benefit trade-offs as
well as environmental impacts.
Brandmeyer
and colleagues Bob Zerbonia and Chengwei Yao recently
traveled to China for the initial meeting of the project.
The AQMDSS will take two years to develop, and then it
will be harnessed to the task of supporting Beijing's
effort to improve its air in time for the Olympics.
More information: Bob Zerbonia,
e-mail raz@rti.org
Combating HIV/AIDS in Workplaces
While
many successful HIV/AIDS intervention initiatives have
taken place in Uganda over the past 15 years, little has
been done to reach the informal sector workplace. Yet,
a sizable proportion of Ugandan workers are employed in
the informal sector, which comprises various occupations
such as market vending, fishing, local transportation,
auto mechanics, carpentry, and many other sources of livelihood.
For the next four years RTI, through a cooperative agreement
funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, will seek to stem
HIV infections in Ugandan workplaces in collaboration
with the Ugandan government, local faith-based organizations
(FBOs), and community-based organizations (CBOs).
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bodaboda riders (motorcycle transporters)
in Uganda receiving training in peer education
from project staff and the Kampala city council's
HIV/AIDS advisor. [PHOTO: Fred Albert, Photo
Masters, for the Uganda Workplace AIDS Prevention
Project] |
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The
program promotes the "ABC" approach (Abstinence,
Being faithful, Condom use) to HIV prevention, works to
reduce stigma and discrimination in the workplace, and
strengthens the capacity of local CBOs and FBOs to implement
HIV/AIDS prevention activities.
RTI's
approach focuses on creating mechanisms necessary to disseminate
HIV prevention messages to workers, based on each workplace's
culture. The program also provides relevant information
about HIV/AIDS with the aim of fostering a dialogue among
workers and the surrounding communities. The goal, says
RTI's project leader Robert Ssengonzi, "is to change
attitudes and behaviors that influence the spread of HIV
and that perpetuate stigma and discrimination of people
infected or affected by HIV/AIDS."
Another
way to increase the sustainability of HIV/AIDS programs
is to strengthen the capacity of local small organizations,
says Ssengonzi. In this area, RTI will work to address
the most critical areas of need of the selected organizations.
These needs include better skills to scale up their existing
activities, improved program management and evaluation,
enhanced financial and administrative systems, and strengthened
partnerships between the informal sector and the government.
Activities such as training in peer education, counseling,
basic accounting, human resources management, proposal
development, report writing, fundraising, planning and
budgeting, and network strengthening will improve the
efficiency of the organizations as well as enabling them
to obtain more funding to continue carrying out HIV/AIDS
awareness and prevention programs.
More information: Robert Ssengonzi,
e-mail rssengonzi@rti.org
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Beginning a New Program to Enhance Education Quality
Cambodia's government
wants to make basic education more relevant to the everyday
life of Cambodian students and their families. Under a
contract from the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), RTI will assist Cambodia's Ministry
of Education, Youth, and Sports (MoEYS) to improve education
quality and relevancy.
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RTI
is assisting Cambodia with a project to make education
more relevant to the daily lives of students such
as these. [PHOTO: Hean Sokhom]
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The project is focused
in two areas: Incorporating life skills into the curricula
for grades 3, 6 and 9, and increasing school capacity--the
ability of teachers, principals and communities to deliver
these new curriculum elements.
In the life skills
area, RTI consultants will provide technical assistance
to teams of locally selected curriculum writers working
to revise the formal curriculum in four main subject areas.
The revisions will aim at relating the content of math,
science, social science, and Khmer language teaching to
the everyday life of students and the world they will
work in after school.
RTI will also assist
with the establishment of local life skills programs.
Proposed as part of Cambodia's new Curriculum Policy 2005-2009,
these after-school elective programs will consist of practical,
locally relevant activities that draw on the needs and
wants of parents and their particular communities. Such
activities might include agricultural management, fish
farming, garment design or civic awareness.
In the area of school
capacity, RTI will assist MoEYS to provide training for
several target groups--school principals, teachers, in-service
trainers and community leaders--to help them apply the
new life skills curricula as well as improve basic subject
teaching. Training will build upon the regional network
of teacher training centers and school clusters. Other
goals include improving parent and community involvement
in education, and strengthening the management and responsiveness
of the in-service training programs that are provided
to schools.
Cambodian education
officials hope that this two-year project will enhance
student and family perceptions of the education system
and lead to increased enrollment--particularly for girls--as
well as better attendance and a reduction in repetition
and dropout rates.
George M. Taylor,
based in Phnom Penh, leads RTI's work on the Program to
Enhance Basic Education in Cambodia. Home office project
manager is Myles Elledge. A project website will soon
be available at http://cbe.rti.org.
More information: George Taylor,
e-mail gtaylor@rti.org
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©2004 RTI, Research Triangle
Park, NC. All rights reserved.
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Starting Up
