Proafrica and Nexus, design and construction aiming resilience

Abstract

Resilience is an applicable theme in many fields of knowledge, stimulating the development of solutions that contemplate optimistic and pessimistic forecasts about the future and observing overcoming difficulties. In the world's poorest regions, factors such as hunger, extreme temperatures, drought or excessive rainfall, and other misfortunes stimulate humanitarian actions associated with the integrative concept of NEXUS (food-water-energy) for the sustainable development of the planet. This research explores this concept by seeking resilience in the case of this project, funded by the ProAfrica Program project applied in the Campada Maria community in Guinea-Bissau. There, women who are vegetable producers suffer great physical stress to fetch water and irrigate the crops. Considering such questions and clearly defined real problems, this work aims to analyze the products built in this context and the process of design and management carried out by an Experimental Site. The actions developed were framed in the steps of Design Science Research (DSR), and the contributions of experimentation in product definition to the project were analyzed. It was verified that the solutions produced for the case were not defined only by the technical product but by a set of solutions considering the production process according to what was possible to meet the deadlines and resources stipulated in the approved proposal. These actions solved the local problem, eliminating much of the daily effort in the targeted community, and the product is in operation. The product is replicable, with the flexibility to adapt to different scenarios. Therefore, connections with the SDGs can be established.