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From ‘flying toilets’ to the ‘World Toilet Cup’: Sanergy brings safe sanitation to Mukuru

A Sanergy worker collects waste from a Fresh Life Toilet in Mukuru. Photo: Eleanor Farmer/Oxfam | Un travailleur de Sanergy évacue les déchets d'une latrine « Fresh Life » dans le campement informel de Mukuru à Nairobi.

A Sanergy worker collects waste from a Fresh Life Toilet in the informal settlement of Mukuru in Nairobi

A debate held as part of Sanergy's WASH in Schools programme in the informal settlement of Mathare. | James, de l'école Alliant à Mathare, prend part à un débat sur les maladies, organisé dans le cadre du programme WASH dans les écoles de Sanergy. Photo: Sanergy

James of Alliant School in Mathare takes part in a debate about disease held under Sanergy’s WASH in Schools programme

The World Toilet Cup staged as part of an 'edutainment' day held by Sanergy with WASH United. | La Coupe du monde des toilettes, organisée par Sanergy en collaboration avec WASH United, à l'occasion d'une journée d'activités ludiques pour les enfants de l'école. Photo: Francesco Rigamonti/SWIFT

The World Toilet Cup, held as part of an ‘edutainment’ day for school children staged by Sanergy in collaboration with WASH United

More than 8,000 people in the informal settlements of Mukuru and Mathare in Nairobi now have access to safe sanitation as a result of Sanergy’s work to construct Fresh Life Toilets, and 120 schools have teachers who have been trained to promote improved hygiene behaviours through the ‘WASH curriculum’.

A total of 198 Fresh Life Toilets have been built under the SWIFT programme and installed in Mukuru and Mathare. Previously, residents’ only options were ‘flying toilets’ (defecating into plastic bags, which are then tossed onto the street) and facilities which release untreated human waste into the environment and are therefore not suited to densely populated urban contexts.

High-quality, sustainable sanitation

Fresh Life Toilets are pre-fabricated and made of high-quality materials that are easy to keep clean and maintain. They have a small footprint, which enables them to be installed close to homes, even in cramped and overcrowded streets, and include essential features such as hand-washing stations. An estimated 30,000 people now have access to the hand-washing facilities at the new toilets.

Local residents purchase the toilets and are trained as Fresh Life Operators, keeping the facilities clean, generating local demand and collecting a small fee from users. Sanergy collects the waste from the toilets on a regular basis, replacing the filled cartridges with clean, empty ones, conducting check-ups on the functionality of the toilets and offering direct feedback to operators.

The sustainability of the model is further ensured by the fact that the waste from the toilets collected by Sanergy is converted into useful by-products such as organic fertiliser and renewable energy, for which there is high demand in East Africa.

Debates help children grasp hygiene concepts

Sanergy is providing WASH training for teachers at schools in Mukuru and Mathare as part of its WASH in Schools programme. Participating schools are holding inter-school debates on sanitation themes to help students understand and internalise hygiene concepts, such as the importance of hand-washing and using a toilet correctly at all times.

Debates involve pupils from a number of schools, and teachers who have completed the WASH in Schools ‘training of trainers’ curriculum are on standby to clarify issues if necessary.

‘When you see students debate some of the concepts they are taught versus what they see out in their communities, it means they are learning and this is an opportunity to demystify any myths about sanitation to ensure children have accurate information,’ says Rose Nyawira, who leads the WASH in Schools team.

 ‘Edutainment’ days with WASH United

Sanergy also provides ‘edutainment’ days for pupils in collaboration with WASH United: a combination of education and entertainment which involves interactive learning and creative ways of communicating hygiene messages such as the importance of hand-washing with soap.

Children may take part in giant board games, for example, rolling a dice and pretending to wash their hands at the right moments to find the ‘Hand-washing Champion’. They may also compete in the football-themed ‘World Toilet Cup’, which requires them to kick a brown ball into a ‘latrine’ (motto: ‘every poo needs a loo’).

Read more about an inter-school debate that took place in Mathare.

Find out more about the SWIFT programme in Kenya

‘Be identified with cleanliness’ – BBC Media Action’s partners take to the airwaves
‘Be identified with cleanliness’ – BBC Media Action’s partners take to the airwaves
Bitumen, slabs, hybrid power and a trough – an update from Concern Worldwide
Bitumen, slabs, hybrid power and a trough – an update from Concern Worldwide

About SWIFT

Since 2014, the Sustainable WASH In Fragile Contexts (SWIFT) Consortium has been working to provide access to water and sanitation and to encourage the adoption of basic hygiene practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in Kenya. Various partners implement SWIFT’s actions in both target countries, in collaboration with governments as well as water providers, including utilities. The consortium is led by Oxfam, and includes Tearfund and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as global members. The SWIFT programme is funded by UK aid from the UK government under a Payment by Results (PbR) contract.

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