Lindi Usafi residents undertake joint GIS Mapping of the area, in Kibera in Nairobi. PHOTO | JOHN MBARIA
The residents
of some slums in Nairobi and Kisumu, have come up with an innovative way
of using toilets, making them more than a place for human waste
disposal.
At the toilets in these slums, you can read, hold weddings, prepare food, transfer cash and even pray.
The
toilets in Lindi Usafi in Kibera, Nairobi, for instance, are an
innovative sanitation solution to the pervasive human waste problem so
common in the slums. They are storied complexes that have drawn the
attention of, and financial support from, among other agencies, the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dubbed
bio-sanitation centres (or biocentres), the complexes are one-stop
shops for a host of services and businesses: money transfer, offices,
residential rooms, halls for hire, libraries, computer labs, kitchens
(where clients pay a fee to cook), and bio-digesters that convert human
waste into biogas and chemical fertiliser.
One
notable feature of the toilets is that those managing them have
adopted modern, cashless payment systems that require users to carry
Beba pay cards and to embrace the Kopokopo payment system.
The
fact that they rely on mobile technology to conduct cash transactions
attracted the attention Bill Gates, whose Foundation, has given them
financial supported under the auspices of the Biocentres Innovations.
As
the most important social and economic facilities in the slums, the
biocentres have enabled the slum’s residents to organise and plan how
to improve their conditions.
INADEQUATE TOILETS
The
pioneers of this trend are the residents of Lindi Usafi, located on
the lower reaches of Kibera, who have come up with a well articulated
plan for the area around their biocentre.
They formulated the Lindi Usafi Neighbourhood Plan in collaboration with a Kibera-based organisation, Umande Trust.
“The
plan spells out the residents’ dream for a better neighbourhood and was
prepared through a consultative process, during which they identified
and articulated the main challenges affecting them,” explains Joyce
Wambui, a town planner with Umande.
Some
of the problems they identified were inadequate and unreliable water
supply, poor sanitation, poor management of solid waste, insecurity,
energy supply and accessibility. The residents were then asked to
prioritise them and think of ways and means of solving these problems.
The
plan offers a way out of each problem, indicating what should be done
and by who, and also sets out an investment plan detailing the amounts
required.
For instance, regarding
sanitation it notes that Lindi Usafi has inadequate toilets, which
overflow, and no space to build more Besides, many people cannot afford
the daily charges for using the toilets while the communal latrines are
not easily accessible to all residents, especially at night, because of
insecurity.
The residents suggested
several solutions, such as connecting the toilets to nearby sewer
lines and getting a simple mechanised exhauster, said Ms Wambui.
“The
most amazing thing is that local landlords have agreed to support the
expansion of the roads in the neighbourhood so that fire engines and
ambulances can have access, says Ms Benazir Omotto, a programme manager
with Umande Trust.
Ms Omotto appealed
to the county and national governments as well as well-wishers to
assist in setting up a compensation scheme for the landlords to
facilitate the expansion of the alleys.
“We
believe that by coming together, we can change our neighbourhood,” says
Adan Ndambuki, a resident of Lindi Usafi and one of the community’s
designated “planning ambassadors”. Together with five other young
people, Ndambuki, 28, has been rallying fellow residents to support and
participate in efforts aimed at improving life in the neighbourhood.
Some
of the residents told DN2 that they intend to use the plan to seek
financial and technical support from the national government, the
Nairobi County government, NGOs and donors, to implement it.
.They
also hope that their member of the Nairobi County Assembly will help
by lobbying for the adoption of the plan and the implementation of the
suggested measures.
BIGGER PLAN
“We
are not asking the county government to think through what should be
done to improve the area; we have already done that,” says Umande Trust
Chief Executive Mr Josiah Omotto. He added that Umande Trust has been
promoting local planning as a way of ensuring that what really affects
people and their aspirations are factored in by the authorities.
“Our
aim is to enable local residents to participate in planning their own
small neighbourhoods and link their needs with bigger plans made by the
county governments so that there is harmony in development.”
He
further said Umande Trust hopes that, besides implementing the
Integrated Urban Development Master Plan for the City of Nairobi, the
county government will factor in what Lindi Usafi residents have come up
with.
“We hope that the officials of
the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (Kensup) and the KISIP will borrow
leaf from the Lindi Usafi Plan as they upgrade slums… we should all know
that the participation of local people in making decisions that pertain
to their lives and welfare is not only enshrined in the constitution
but is a fundamental aspect “ of democracy.”
Apart
from Lindi Usafi, there are biocentres in other slums in Nairobi such
as Mukuru-Kaiyaba, Kibagare, Korogocho and Mathare, In Kisumu, they
have been established in Nyalenda, Obunga, and Kibandani slums, as well
as in Kibuye Market. The concept is also catching up in other Kenyan
towns.
“We intend to use it to lobby for its implementation,” says Alex Ambetsa, another “planning ambassadors”.
Initially,
they were hoping to get financial resources from the CDF but this is no
longer assured following the disbandment of the latter by parliament.
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