Broken Pumps and Promises: Incentivizing Impact in Environmental Health - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3319803964 ISBN 13: 9783319803968

Publisher: Springer, 2018

Synopsis

This volume highlights some of the challenges in delivering effective environmental health interventions, and presents examples of emergent theories and case studies that can help close the gap between intent and impact. These include impact crediting systems, objective evidence gathering tools, and social businesses that service environmental health. The case studies presented cross disciplines, scales, organizational and national boundaries and can defy easy categorization. A water project may be designed for a health impact, but financed with a climate change tool, and leverage high tech cell phone sensors. A cookstove program may be primarily concerned with employment and capacity building, but balance environmental and health concerns.

Presently, the impact of interventions may not always be aligned to the intent sought. In this book, readers will discover alternative ways to move the mindset of funders and implementers toward pay-for-performance models of humanitarianand environmental interventions. Undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, global health, appropriate technology, international development and development engineering would benefit from these increasingly non-traditional case studies that challenge commonly accepted presentations of poverty reduction and social enterprise.

 

About this title

About the Author

Evan A Thomas, PhD, PE, MPH is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Sweet (Sustainable Water, Energy and Environmental Technologies) Laboratory, and a Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Sustainable Solutions at Portland State University. He works at the interface of engineering, environmental health and social business, with professional experience working in government, industry, non-profits and academia. Evan holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder, is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in Environmental Engineering in the State of Texas, and holds a Masters in Public Health from the Oregon Health and Science University.

Evan is also a social business entrepreneur engaged in global health programs. Evan was a founding volunteer with Engineers Without Borders-USA in 2002, which led to co-founding Manna Energy Limited in 2007. In 2012, Evan co-founded SWEETSense Inc., an Oregon technology company. Evan is currently the Chief Operating Officer of DelAgua Health, a social enterprise working with the Government of Rwanda. 

Prior to joining PSU, Evan worked as a civil servant at the NASA-Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas for six years. At NASA, Evan was a principal investigator and project manager in the Life Support and Habitability Systems Branch working on concepts and flight hardware for sustainable Moon and Mars spacecraft. 

 

From the Back Cover

This volume highlights some of the challenges in delivering effective environmental health interventions, and presents examples of emergent theories and case studies that can help close the gap between intent and impact. These include impact crediting systems, objective evidence gathering tools, and social businesses that service environmental health. The case studies presented cross disciplines, scales, organizational and national boundaries and can defy easy categorization. A water project may be designed for a health impact, but financed with a climate change tool, and leverage high tech cell phone sensors. A cookstove program may be primarily concerned with employment and capacity building, but balance environmental and health concerns.

Presently, the impact of interventions may not always be aligned to the intent sought. In this book, readers will discover alternative ways to move the mindset of funders and implementers toward pay-for-performance models of humanitarian and environmental interventions. Undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, global health, appropriate technology, international development and development engineering would benefit from these increasingly non-traditional case studies that challenge commonly accepted presentations of poverty reduction and social enterprise.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3319803964
• ISBN 13: 9783319803968
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 251
• Editor: Thomas Evan A.