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Paper short abstract

In Mukuru (Nairobi), residents manage excreta via a range of embodied and constructed practices, which will require developing equitable, multifaceted sanitation initiatives that befit these heterogeneous strategies. We also explore policy and practical lessons from Mukuru's simplified sewerage.

Paper long abstract

Safely managed sanitation is rare in informal settlements, where most African city dwellers live, but past research has often overlooked the complex disposal practices utilised in these areas.

Drawing upon a case study in Nairobi’s informal settlement of Mukuru, we explore how residents use an array of behaviours, maintenance services, and fragile piped networks to manage excreta. Many households rely on low-quality pit latrines and improvised strategies (e.g., waste in open drainage), alongside eco-toilets and public toilets. Excreta are often disposed via flexible practices with seasonal and spatial-temporal variations, which may reflect and amplify intersectional inequalities (based on age, gender, disability, and levels of poverty). Mukuru residents emphasised that sanitation can only be enhanced by addressing excreta disposal alongside improved water, drainage, roads, rubbish collection, and menstrual hygiene. In turn, we argue that sanitation in Mukuru cannot be understood as a discrete network, but rather is inextricably intertwined with and co-constitutive of other infrastructures.

Finally, we discuss how a simplified sewerage project in Mukuru may foster inclusive community-level changes and a shift in state strategies, based on efforts led by residents, an NGO called Akiba Mashinani Trust, government, and other coalition partners. We identify the emerging benefits of simplified sewers—including for health, livelihoods, and equitable governance—while also recommending participatory planning measures and recognising the interlinkages between infrastructure networks.

We seek to inform inclusive, appropriate interventions that reflect the complex web of managing excreta, rather than the misleading notion of a singular ‘sanitation chain’ or a narrow focus upon conventional sewers.