Great idea,  technological advances need to help farmers, make time and other resources efficient.  Can you explain further on how the farmers will access this information, and equipment.   

Dear Julia, Thank you very much for your thoughtful comments!
Public participatjon is a strong component of the hopeful river project,  we understand that engagement with the coommunity is really important especially with those that work and live by the river  and use it regularly.  We are budgeting the bulk of our time initially on this.

The project has a wide long term vision among wich encouraging sustainable bussinesses around the river is one.   Along with this we are currently seeking partnerships with organisations working with schools inorder to engage the youth.  

Thank you for your suggestion on phytoremediation with local varieties of plants, we have botanist on the team and we are exploring options. On sight selection similarly to your suggestion we want  to appproach it systematically, and consider different parameters such as type of contaminants in the water,  willingness of community members,  avalabilty of space,  future government plans and our current capacity before we make a  choice.  

Finally Julia,  we are aleays looking to expand our team of volunteers  so please keep in touch.  

Using design thinking to solve climate change and slum problems is a great idea. Temperature is already increasing in Addis Ababa and it is expected to increase more due to climate change, low cost locally sourced storage to keep vegetables cool is a fantastic idea.  Vegetable vendors in slums have limited financial capital and 'narrow profit margin' ; thus reducing waste and increasing shelf life is important to keep their business viable in longer term and increase their profit currently. 

In addition to clay storage it would be good to think about improving the whole gulit unit using local materials. Since these units are usually made of corrugated iron they are susceptible to heating up. Further in some guilts because of space shortage and visibility, vegetables are placed outside the unit and exposed to direct sunlight which accelerates the spoiling process. In light of rising temperatures some kind of durable and appropriate shade structure would maximize the benefit of your clay storage idea.