The Safe Global Water Institute and CEE 449 are pleased to welcome Peter Luswata, founder of the Uganda Rural Community Support Foundation (URCSF), to present “Living Learning Laboratory and Education Center: Building Sustainable Entrepreneurial Solutions for Water-Energy-Food Challenges.”

Abstract: Unsafe water, fuel scarcity, poor farming practices, and inadequate sanitation systems in rural and periurban areas are key contributing factors of the high morbidity (4 billion annual episodes of diarrhea) and mortality (2 million annual deaths) rates in the developing world due to waterborne-related diseases. Despite significant investment from governments, NGOs, industry, and other stakeholders, developing long-term local sustainability is a grand challenge resulting in developing world is littered with unused or inoperable attempts to implement solutions. Uganda Rural Community Support Foundation (URCSF) and the Safe Global Water Institute (UIUC) are working to overcome these global challenges through new approaches to training and supporting local populations that creates a path to prosperity for them by blending technical skill building coupled with a deep understanding of the local entrepreneurial practices that can lead to fiscal sustainability. Peter Luswata, founder of URCSF, will discuss how the Living Learning Laboratory and Education Center will enable long-term sustainable platform to enable students from UIUC to develop new sustainable technologies and to train regional entrepreneurs in how to fabricate and market these technologies.