Toilets as opportunities?

 

My last blog will be continuing on the theme of toilets – offering some hope for the future of toilets in informal settlements in the global south. The film Slumdog Millionaire perfectly captured the paradox of slum life – the harsh conditions that people are living in, but also the potential of entrepreneurialism to generate income. This paradox is also seen in Mathare, an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya (as shown in Figure 1).


 

Figure 1: Alleyway in a slum in Mathare, Nairobi

In Mathare, the toilet is being reinvented – not just on a public health imperative, but as a business opportunity (‘A toilet is not just a toilet’). At ‘Number 10’ neighbourhood, a shared toilet (which has a fee to use) is managed by a local youth group, generating income for themselves as well as other avenues – such as a mobile banking kiosk and water point, which are next to the toilet. In this way, urban sanitation is linked to urban economies and infrastructures.

Ikotoilet (as shown in Figure 2) is a sanitation intervention in Nairobi, providing pay per use public toilets. They provide a high level of maintenance and cleanliness, challenging the views around toilets as being unpleasant places. Also, by providing shoe-shining stations and snack stalls, extra income is generated to fund the project. Highly successful, in 2008 an Ikotoilet was installed in Mathare, and by 2010, another 40 toilets had been built across Nairobi. These interventions turn toilets into ‘little development devices’, as they are reworking sanitation experiences, and potentially shaping future innovations ‘from the bottom up’.

 

 

Figure 2: Ikotoilet block in Nairobi

New sanitation projects, such as these market-based approaches, are not only provide vital services but create a positive multiplier effect and help break down taboos and stigmas around ‘shit’. In this way, they are instrumental in the improvement of sanitation in low-income settlements. However, they require people in the community to take on responsibility and an active role in improving their sanitation, working within the urban constraints.

Over the last few weeks, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about water and sanitation in Africa. It has become clear that Africa is not doomed, even though there is still so much progress to go, there are glimmers of hope in providing safe water and sanitation to all. I have also understood that water and sanitation is a complex issue and not just a technical one, but political, health and infrastructural, requiring a range of stakeholders to cooperate in creating safe and equitable access to such services.

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