Case Studies Africa

This is a study to assess the potential sustainability of the Safe Water Systems (SWS). An analysis of costs was carried out in Zambia for the “Clorin” brand product sold in bottles sufficient for a month of water treatment at a price of $0.09. This analysis demonstrated that efficiencies in the SWS supply chain can be achieved through social marketing.

This document provides information on three case studies on household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) projects. The Kenyan case study describes a project that - as per August 2011 - had implemented more than 1,800 bio-sand filters in two main areas in rural communities around the towns of Kisii and Eldoret.

This short document reports on successful social marketing interventions, creating demand for Safe Water System (SWS) products such as a bottle of sodium hypochlorite solution branded as ‘WaterGuard’, PUR and Aquatabs in Kenya.

This short document reports on an intervention that proved effective in linking a socially marketed health product with local information that encourages and increases adoption of the Safe Water System (SWS) and hand washing knowledge in vulnerable populations by training nurses at local health clinics to educate their clients about the importance of safe water and proper hand washing techniques.

This short document reports on a school-based safe drinking water and hygiene intervention. Locally produced dilute chlorine solutions that were socially marketed by a non-governmental organisation were used combined with hand washing education in 45 rural primary schools in Nyanza Province, western Kenya.

This article gives a detailed insight into the legislative frameworks active in the Zambian rural water supply sector.

The studies are based on a combination of field missions, interviews with practitioners, reviews of secondary materials and, in some cases, a workshop involving practitioners. Each case study evaluates progress guided by key aspects of the human right to water and sanitation.

This report outlines the evolution of the water and sanitation sector and gives some practical examples of their functions in present day Zambia.

This case study demonstrates the role of water management in poverty reduction. The African Development Bank commissioned the Stockholm Environment Institute to conduct a study on water-poverty linkages in three countries, one of which was Ethiopia. In the agricultural sector, the focus was improving on-farm water management, including rainwater capture and storage.

This case study reports the establishment of single vault UDDTs as a pilot and demonstration project in Rwanda to test the new concept of ecological sanitation with UDDTs in rural primary schools and provide a healthy school environment. Because of the high number of users and the anticipated amount of faeces to be collected per day, UDDTs with a single vault were chosen. The faeces are sanitised in a separate drying shelter.

LEAD, a local women’s organisation, promotes SODIS for the treatment of drinking water at household level, making use of its existing network of sangams (women self-help groups). In addition, teachers and students of local schools are trained. For the supply of PET-bottles, a micro-credit system was implemented.

This case studies reports form the implementation of ecosan toilets in the peri-urban area of Ouagadougou financed by the European Union. The aim of the project was to demonstrate ecosan on an urban level with a centralised collection and treatment facilities and commercialisation of hygienised urine and faeces.

The project aimed at providing safe water supply and sanitation to the population resettled – after floods – in the less flood-prone Guara-Guara region in the Sofala Province, Mozambique. Since the area is characterised by high groundwater tables, so called “ventilated double vault urine diversion dehydration toilets” (UDDTs) were implemented to not contaminate the groundwater, and thus not threaten public health (unlike pit latrines).

This study deals with the implications of policies of the demand-driven approach of community water supply in rural and small urban areas in Ghana. In the context of comprehensive reforms in the water sector a transition of roles and responsibilities as well as the establishment of new institutions and actors were supported by numerous international donor organisations.

This list of worldwide ecosan projects is regularly updated by the GIZ team. Its purpose is to have a rough overview of what is going on with ecosan projects worldwide. This list includes only domestic sanitation projects, not included are: small research projects; industrial wastewater reuse and projects where reuse is impossible.

This paper presents a sustainable development project to address water problems in a village in the Venda region of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. The authors present the design and constructed process for a slow sand filtration system intended to provide clean drinking water to most households in the community. They present and analyse successes, failures, and ethical dilemmas encountered throughout project execution.

This case study describes a first trial of a small-scale grey-water treatment box (reed bed) for urban and peri urban households in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. The project tested and demonstrated a sustainable low cost water treatment option for households to prevent standing greywater and clogging of soils. It was purposely limited to finding a cheap and effective domestic greywater treatment option applicable to both, upgrading of existing housing as well as to newly built low cost housing.

This Master thesis gives an overview of opportunities and constraints for more sustainable sanitation through the application of sanitation marketing approaches in rural Malawi. The thesis is based on the results of a field research in Lilongwe and Mzimba district in Malawi and considers three stakeholder levels: the rural population (demand site), entrepreneurs involved in sanitation supply (supply site) and the district governments (enabling environment).

This case study reports replacement of pit latrines with a UDDT block (six single-vault UDDTs) for Nelson Mandela School, a private school from grade 1 to 9 with a total of 200 students and teachers, in Arba Minch, Ethiopia. The school staff operates and maintains the toilet (storage conditions of excreta, urine, hand washing facilities, cleaning of toilets, provision of drying agent like ash). The school janitor is responsible for providing the drying agents.

This case study reports the replacement of pit latrine with UDDT at one household in Arba Minch, Ethiopia. A single-vault UDDT serves family members and rural merchants staying overnight. Urine is applied for banana, mango and lemon plants and the dried excreta are co-composted along with organic material in the owner’s farmland.

This master thesis designs, pilot tests and evaluates modified local plastic design (LPD) biosand filters for treatment of highly turbid water in northern Region of Ghana.

This case study shows the use of grey water towers as a tool for household sanitation in Uganda. The project serves 40 inhabitants in Kitgum Town, Uganda. It was realised within the ROSA project, which aims at developing adaptable, affordable and replicable sanitation solutions in Africa.

This SuSanA case study compiles experiences from a ROSA sanitation pilot project in Kitgum Town in northern Uganda. The ROSA project started in October 2006. The first activity of the project was to conduct a baseline study, which was concluded by March 2007 in order to get basic information about the sanitation situation and the status of reusing nutrients from excreta, wastewater and grey water.

This case study is about pilot scale urine diversion dehydration toilets for peri-urban informal households in Omaruru, Namibia. The project was designed to show the advantages of dry sanitation systems in arid regions such as Namibia. It further aims at involving the local authorities in such a way that they can implement sanitation facilities in the future based on the findings of the pilot study.

The EcoSan Promotion Project (EPP) was an EU-funded and SIDA and GTZ co-funded project component embedded in the Water Sector Reform Program of GTZ water program. Within the project period 263 double vault Urine Diversion Dehydration Toilets (UDDTs) were constructed in 70 schools. The project’s aim was to develop, test and promote the reuse orientated sanitation (ecosan) concepts for large and small-scale applications in mostly rural and peri-urban areas of Kenya.

This study was undertaken within the ROSA project (Resource oriented Sanitation concepts in peri‐urban areas in Africa) in order to understand greywater characteristics and to demonstrate a low cost reuse option involving direct application of untreated greywater to small so called “greywater towers” at household level in peri‐urban settlements in Kitgum Town Council.

This document outlines that the drinking water sources in the Kibera Slum in Nairobi are of very bad condition. It contains information about Kenya Water for Health Organization (KWAHO) and its implementation of a Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS) project.

This issue publishes selected contributions from the 1st WATERBIOTECH conference. WATERBIOTECH („Biotechnology for Africa‘s sustainable water supply“) is a coordination and support action funded within the Africa call of the EU 7th Framework Programme.

The South Western Towns Water and Sanitation (SWTWS) project was created in 1995 to provide water supply and improve sanitation in 19 small towns and rural centres in south-west Uganda. The main focus was to provide water and sanitation systems with low operation and maintenance costs to ensure sustainability given the low-income levels of the beneficiaries.

This case study reports the project history and lessons learnt (after 6 years) from construction of a total o 42 UDDTs in two villages in Botswana.

This article outlines the types of sanitation available in urban slums in Zambia and how this fits into the cost structure of service providers and individual households.

This case study reports the improvement on sanitation by establishing two single-vault UDDTs, one double-vault UDDT and a urinal for a population of 50 church members and 25 children in Nakuru, Kenya. Dry faecal matter from the UDDT is applied around banana plants and trees, and urine is used to grow corn and vegetables on an experimental basis.

This SuSanA case study compiles experiences from a ROSA sanitation pilot project implemented in a secondary school in Nakuru, Kenya. Single vault urine diversion toilets, a faeces drying shed and grey water treatment were implemented in this project. The project serves about 200 students.

This case study reports the design and construction of a toilet block consisting of three single vault UDDTs for a population of 28 households at a residential plot in Hilton estate, a high-density low-income settlement in the North-Western part of Nakuru Town. To overcome problems associated to the misuse of the toilets by visitors and strangers who were not familiar with the proper use, a new toilet management system has been put in place, where the three UDDTs are divided among the 28 households, who are supposed to take care and maintain the toilets.

This study reports the improvement of the sanitation systems of a rural public health centre in Kanawat, Uganda. Excreta from UDDTs and composting pit latrines are treated together in sludge drying beds. Greywater is treated in a sludge drying bed and a constructed wetland and finally reused for irrigation.

Case study on a school UDDT project and the reuse of the collected urine in Kalunga, Uganda

This document presents a range of different projects implemented in Uganda around ecological sanitation, such as school sanitation, biogas and sludge treatmemt. These documented cases have been compiled in completion of a 15 months Ecological Sanitation Research Project implemented by Network for Water and Sanitation (NETWAS) Uganda as the ecosanres Uganda Knowledge Node with support from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).

This evaluation report provides the findings and key lessons learnt from assessment study conducted in Zambia for the use of chlorine solution.

This project aimed to gain scientific knowledge on the technical, socio-economical and operational aspects of co-composting (organic solid waste and faecal material). Dried faecal sludge (drying bed) is co-composted with the organic fraction of solid waste. The final product is used as compost for urban and periurban agriculture.

This study provides information on United Nations sponsored projects that were carried out in Africa and resulted in renewable energy being harvested from sanitation products.

Article in the RUAF Urban Agriculture Magazine on gardening activities in the Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya

Faced with limited space to dig latrines in some parts of the Farchana refugee camp in Chad and the collapse of latrines in sandy areas, SECADEV (a Chadian NGO) has been testing its own form of ecological toilet - family latrines that can be emptied. The ecological sustainable part is that space is saved (there is no need to dig new pits as they can be emptied when full). Furthermore, faeces are supposed to be reused for agricultural purposes.

This study identifies the needs and experiences of girls regarding menstruation. It draws upon participatory group workshops, a questionnaire and semi structured interviews with school-age girls in Malawi to make various recommendations, including lessons about menstrual hygiene management (MHM), girl-friendly toilet designs, and the provision of suitable and cheap sanitary protection.

A sanitation unit (toilet, hand wash basins, a urinal and showers) and a water kiosk were constructed for a public bus park (design sale was 1000 visitors per day). This projects aimed to improve living conditions of the residents and travellers by providing environmentally-friendly sanitation solutions with a focus on the reuse of the human waste as a resource and to find a business-oriented solution that creates economic incentives for the water sector institutions to invest in sanitation and to generate income for private operators.

This case study describes a pilot project that implemented double vault UDDTs in rural and peri-urban areas of Kenya and reached in total 10,000 beneficiaries with around 1,000 household and school toilets.

This case study is about a full-scale project of urban upgrading with community-based water and sanitation in form of community ablution blocks in eThekwini, South Africa. An estimated 600,000 inhabitants have benefited from the project.

This case study is about a large-scale project of eThekwini Municipality (Durban), where free basic water supply and sustainable sanitation in form of urine diversion dehydration toilets (UDDTs) are provided in rural and peri-urban areas at household level. This project integrates the delivery of household water facilities (yard tanks), appropriate sanitation services (UDDT), household education and training as one package.

The project was developed under the EU funded project "Resource-Oriented Sanitation concepts for peri-urban areas in Africa (ROSA)", which took place in four countries in east Africa. The general objective of this project was to promote resource oriented sanitation concepts in high-density areas. There was an increased number of people owning urine diversion dehydration toilets (UDDTs) and having wide knowledge on resource oriented sanitation concepts.

This case study is about pilot sanitation facilities at a school compound in Arusha, Tanzania. UDDTs were constructed to serve a population of 56 people. This project was part of the larger EU-funded ROSA project.

Greywater towers were selected as one of the methods that can be adopted to treat and safely reuse greywater for Arba Minch town and eight such units were constructed. Awareness about the unit has been raised in the community of Arba Minch and promising demand has been created.

Case study about fossa alterna toilets for household sanitation in Arba Minch, Ethiopia.

This case study is about the implementation of nine Arborloo reaching 33 beneficiaries in Arba Minch/Ethiopia. The project was developed and funded under the ROSA project, which aims at developing adaptable, affordable and replicable sanitation solutions in Africa.

Ghana. The Malawi case describes the experiences of an ecological sanitation at Embangweni. The Tanzania case demonstrates the private sector partnership in peri-urban and rural sanitation with the case of SanPlat promotion. Ghana looks at financial and institutional challenges to make faecal sludge management an integrated part of the ecological sanitation approach.

The motivation of the project was to establish a decentralised wastewater treatment system that offers a simple solution to existing shortcomings and is cost-effective and efficient, hence allows self-management by the village community. The overall goal of this GIZ “component” (which is part of a larger GIZ programme) was formulated under the expectation that hygienic, appropriate, low-cost wastewater disposal possibilities are accepted and applied by the population and the responsible institutions.

This report compiles the findings of a consultancy project that was undertaken to study the factors impacting on rural water treatment in South Africa. It proposes adaptive strategies to address these impacts, and develop a planning framework that can be used to position rural water treatment for the future.

In this report, an extensive ethical and technological reflection on the use of chlorine as a disinfectant of drinking water is performed. Two cases are particularly investigated: the first being the choice of disinfectant in the Netherlands, a country renowned for its high standards in drinking water quality and its progressiveness in the application of novel techniques. The second case concerns the choice of disinfectant in Kenya, a developing country dealing with water shortages and especially a lack of safe drinking water. Moreover, the country can serve as an exemplary case for other countries in the same region (sub-Saharan Africa).

This publication is a compilation of numerous best practice examples from all over the world with regard to gender, water and sanitation.

This article shows how local leadership through government structures, sector reforms and private investment changed the behaviour and attitudes of two communities.

This paper explores a methodology that works to develop a “culture of cleanliness” through the establishment of community health clubs. Rather than starting immediately with the implementation of a water and sanitation programme, health education is used as the first point of entry into the project area. Zimbabwe A.H.E.A.D promotes upgradeable sanitation, which sees hygiene consciousness as the most important prerequisite for safe sanitation.

This case study is about an upgrading demonstration project for peri-urban areas in Koulikoro, Mali. 11 UDDTs and grey water infiltration gardens were constructed in that project. This project was implemented by GTZ on behalf of the German Ministry BMZ. It was sustainable, mainly because institutional and financial sustainability criteria were severely neglected.

This document summarises the key thinking on how global demand targets can be met. It highlight actions that have been taken at different levels and by different actors in Africa and in the whole world to change the pace of sanitation improvement.

These WSP field notes describe and analyse projects and activities in water and sanitation that provide lessons for sector leaders, administrators, and individuals tackling the water and sanitation challenges in urban and rural areas. The case studies included in this series are of large-scale impact, demonstrable sustainability, good cost recovery, replicable conditions, and leadership. They cover Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania.

This case study is about a pilot scale construction of urine diverting dry toilets (UDDTs) at Adama University (AU), Ethiopia. A major challenge for most Ethiopian universities is the insufficient water supply and the situation at AU, which has more than 13,000 students. Based on this, the University Capacity Building Programme (UCBP) with the support of GIZ International Services (formerly, GTZ International Services) in Ethiopia and OtterWasser GmbH, designed, funded and constructed a UDDT complex for some (but not all) staff and students at AU in Ethiopia.

This document provides an overview over the main events that have taken place over the passage of Zimbabwe's rural sanitation programme. It touches the technologies, policy frame, problem areas and many more aspects of the programme.

This document describes the experimental design of ecological sanitation and pit-emptying trials in Maputaland, South Africa. It describes the situation found at field visits in 2000 and 2003.

This booklet describes how to make a toilet which is both low cost and easy to make. Builders and artisans are not required, once the householder has learned the basic methods of construction.

Low cost Ecological Sanitation programs in Malawi have led to the building of over 11,000 compost-producing toilets since 2003. While the toilets are affordable and simple to construct, the fact that they convert human waste into valuable odour-free compost, enables cost recovery for households and is a prime driver in popularizing EcoSan designs. This field note summarizes the lessons learned thus far in Malawi’s efforts to popularize ecological sanitation.

This document describes the ecological sanitation situation in South Africa, focussing on the range of technological options, promotional methods and recycling methods and the problem areas.

Based on experiences from Ghana, this paper outlines the necessary steps and considerations for increasing the adoption probability of food safety interventions (such as safer irrigation practices or careful vegetable washing) under a generic framework, which is based on social marketing, incentive systems, awareness creation/education and supporting regulations.

This paper deals with the methodology to create demand for sanitation by applying a social marketing approach. A project implemented by EcoSan Club in Northern Uganda serves as illustration.

This paper introduces WASH United and its learning and behaviour change theory to create awareness and behaviour change for increasing the relevance of sanitation and hygiene practices. It describes how WASH United is using games and sport at the Great WASH Yatra in India and via WASH in Schools as well as the impact of these programmes.

Devolution, or the delegation of power by central government to local or regional administration, is by far the most significant initiative in governance that Kenya has undertaken since independence. Effective implementation of the new devolved framework now requires the water sector to focus on the emerging opportunities and to address a number of challenges. This note analyses the pertinent issues and options for national government and county leadership to achieve sustainable delivery of improved water services under the new dispensation.