Although there is the difficulty in traveling abroad due to the corona crisis, Assoc. Prof. Hidenori Harada visited Lusaka, Zambia from late July for about two weeks.

During this visit, a research seminar was held for students and professors at the Integrated Water Resources Management Centre, University of Zambia (UNZA), and discussions were held on research collaboration with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering-School of Engineering-UNZA, and the Public Health Department of Lusaka City Council.

A field survey on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) was conducted in a peri-urban unplanned settlement (compound) and suburban farming villages. In the former, a demonstration was given to local young people for a WASH risk visualization application that is under development as a new participatory approach to solveWASH problems in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He also visited the Embassy of Japan in Zambia and the JICA Zambia office, attended a dinner hosted by the Ambassador of Japan to Zambia, and exchanged opinions with people involved in higher education and water and sanitation in Zambia.

It was a very fulfilling trip for future research development.