Andy Kusi-Appiah
| Phone: | 613-219-4659 |
| Email: | andy.kusi-appiah@carleton.ca |
Mzuzu University Research Mentor
Wales Singini
http://www.mzuni.ac.mw/fisheries/wales_singini.html
Home Institution
Carleton University, Geography & Environmental Studies.
Biosketch
I am an adjunct professor at Carleton University (human geography / demography). I am currently a doctoral candidate at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, and a policy advisor at the Department of Indigenous Services Canada. I am also a public member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario College of Social Work and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW), appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario in September 2018.
Research Interests and societal interests
My research interests are located within the domain of the social geographies of water and the political ecology of health and wellbeing. My research seeks to explore the ways through which peri-urban residents, increasingly severed from municipal water supply systems, gain access to alternative water sources that nourish their homes. My focus is on providing a better understanding of water governance systems in informal peri-urban environments. Mzuzu, a city of northern Malawi, with a population of 300,000 inhabitants and over 1.7 million who benefit from social and economic activities of Mzuzu, is my study area.
Expectations as a QES Scholar during the Mobility Period
The QES program will afford me the opportunity to build my capacity in conducting qualitative research. I expect that by the end of the mobility period, I would have collected enough data/information which would The QES program will afford me the opportunity to build my capacity in conducting qualitative research in water governance and accessibility in rapidly urbanizing environments in the South. I expect that by the end of the mobility period, I would have collected enough data/information which would be analyzed for my thesis write-up. This is also an opportunity to network with other academics and experts in the field, as well as colleagues doing research in societal transformation and climate change adaptability. I also intend to learn more about Malawi’s urban water system and how it works for marginalized urban dwellers. analyzed for my thesis write-up. This is also an opportunity to network with other academics and experts in the field, as well as colleagues doing research in societal change and climate change adaptability. I also intend to learn more about Malawi’s urban water system and how it works for marginalized urban dwellers.
The QES Project and Advancement of your Career
My proposed research supports Carleton University’s current position as a national leader in water research and Malawi Government’s urban water policy. The QES program is an opportunity for me to gain an in-depth understanding and knowledge of ways through which marginalized peri-urban dwellers gain access to water for domestic use, giving the impact of human induced climate change on water resources, and their implications for political ecologies of disease, especially waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea.My proposed research has great potential to make a significant impact on current knowledge and urban social policy in Malawi and southern Africa more generally. Past research on water access has taken an overly dualistic approach, focusing on the divide in water access between those who are connected to official water grids, and those who patronize informal systems of water governance. While certainly insightful, this dualism, however, is limiting as it paints residents in peri-urban areas with a broad brush and portrays individuals who use informal means of access outside official systems as facing similar access to and control over water.