Improving Sanitation and Capacity in a Kampala Slum

In addition to our ongoing activities of training and advocacy, Good Earth is about to start a latrine construction project in a Namawongo, a Kampala slum area. We will be working together with a local Community Based Organisation called Namawongo Community Development Organisation (NACODO). Namawongo is situated on the edge of a wetland and the main water channel that carries all of Kampala’s run-off water ( and its garbage, waste, etc.) to Lake Victoria. This means that the conditions for those that live in the area are pretty miserable; imagine the amount of water and garbage that pours through the slum when it rains! On top of that, the total lack of sanitation facilities means that disposal of human waste is a significant challenge to the residents of the slum. Many people are forced to use plastic bags, which end up in drainage channels right next to where people sleep and eat and where children play. It is easy to get a sense from this of the high levels of water-borne diseases that easily overtake areas of the slum. Currently, as we are in the rainy season, the slum has seen an outbreak of cholera due to the poor sanitation conditions there.

Waste, drainage, living areas all mix together in Namawongo

This project will not bring a solution to the sanitation problems existing in the slum, but it is a start, as it will increase the number of toilets in the area. Aside from the physical infrastructure, the project will train NACODO members in ISSB construction and leave them with an ISSB press to continue work in the future. It will also provide them with income generation through the management of the toilets.

The project will utilise two innovative approaches to help raise money for NACODO. First, the toilet design will separate the solids from the urine as a jerry can (20 litres) of urine can be sold here as fertiliser to farmers. GET is working with the Ministry of Environment to link NACODO up to farmers who are interested in purchasing urine. This will be a continuous income generation scheme for NACODO.

Secondly, in slum areas, most (if not all) toilets work on a pay-as-you-go basis, this means that when one wants to use the toilet they pay 100 UGX per use. This is necessary to maintain the toilets, pay someone to manage them and clean them, and empty them when they are full. The toilets we build will also need money to cover the management of the toilet, which selling the urine will contribute to. However, aside from paying-to-go not being equitable, it usually means that only adults get to use the toilets as children can more easily find a discreet (or not so discreet as is often the case!) place to go. After doing some research into these issues and consulting with the community, NACODO developed a system where families or households could buy a monthly pass to the latrine, and in turn, all members of that household could use the toilets. This will provide an affordable alternative for families, allowing all the member s to have access to sanitation facilities. We are not aware of this approach being used anywhere else in Uganda, so we are excited to pilot a new approach to urban slum sanitation. Moreover, this idea has been generated by the community, so we are eager to see it succeed!

We are in the final stages of preparing for the project and hope to start near the end of the month. Unfortunately, as we are in rainy season we have had to wait to begin the project. But as soon as the rains calm down, we will be ready to start building!

Kids in Namawongo wetland area, at the edge of the slum