Community Involvement in Ecological Sanitation and Safe Water Supply Activities.
Location
Providing a safe environment through responsible Ecological sanitation practices.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Field of Work
Sanitation
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2006
YouTube Upload
Web site (url)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram:
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Public information alone doesn’t change behaviors
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Move people up the sanitation ladder
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
This field has not been completed
Name Your Project
Community Involvement in Ecological Sanitation and Safe Water Supply Activities.
Describe Your Idea
Providing a safe environment through responsible Ecological sanitation practices.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
Providing a safe environment through responsible Ecological sanitation practices.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
The Ecological Sanitation Toilets (Eco-San Toilets) and the water harvesting have been set up to improve the sanitation conditions within the community and at the same time help them to domestically irrigate their farms for daily subsistence and hence control their dependence on the wetland for farming. This has been achieved through establishing the ecosan toilets within selected households around the wetland as well as advocating for the use of human excreta in organic farming and kitchen gardening at the household level. The project has also introduced safe water supply and harvesting alternatives based on community needs as assessed in the second phase of the project. The project is one of a kind due to the simple materials used and its output;
• The Ecosan Toilet does not require costs on water for flashing.
• A vault that holds the Human Excreta is installed below the toilet seat.
• Another tank for urine is installed to prevent mixture of the two(Urine and Human Excreta)
• Wood Ash is used to treat the Human Excreta and this is added every time the toilet is used. The wood ash is produced daily by cooking fires.
• The urine is also treated by adding water in a ratio of 3:1, and then this is fed into banana plants.(this has been professionally tested and proven to be safe for the banana plant)
- The water is harvested both from rain and from underground seepages. This is done by ;
- Digging simple reservoirs within households.
- Installing water tanks to collect rain roof-tops.
- Digging of Bore Holes.
The eco-san toilet remains unique because apart from just being a tool
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
At its inception the idea of the ecosan toilet was unique and hence required training. Training was done at the community level through the Village Environmental Committee (VEC). The committee then became ToTs (Trainer of Trainees), and the idea was spread to the community at a much faster rate. The Local administration (Local chief) and Religious leaders were also used to help train and discuss with the community at large.
How do you plan to expand your innovation?
This will be done by increasing the number of Ecosan toilets within the community. Having more households with the toilet will mean improved sanitation. Therefore we propose to add 25 more ecosan toilets in churches and schools, that will be able to serve more than 1000 individuals.
More water reservoirs will also be dug in the different households and this will include increasing the number per household. By the end of the year at least 60% of the community should be having a reservoir or should be benefiting from one.
We also intend to have more stakeholders brought in i.e. the Municipal Council of Kisumu, Ministry of Water and others.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
The partnerships that exist include;
• OSIENALA/SIDA (Friends of Lake Victoria and The Swedish Development Agency)- they funded the project in all the three phases and have been offering a lot of technical support.
• Kisumu Innovation Center( KICK)
• LBDA( Lake Basin Development Authority)
• SANA International.
These partnerships have been created through a stakeholder’s forum that involves the community. The community comes up with their needs and after the needs assessment is done they propose those organizations that they can cooperate with.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
The Ecosan Toilet ensures that the community’s sanitation is improved and increases their farm produce hence high nutritional standards for the people.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
We are currently serving the Nyamasaria community working with around 400 households. We intend to reach up to 2000 households by the end of the year (2008) and possibly expand to another community (Dunga). This will go a long way in ensuring that the sanitation of the communities living around Lake Victoria Region is improved.
Directly
The Project has been able to reach 400 households who are directly benefiting from the Ecosan toilet either by using it or using the manure in their farms.
The project is also expected to extend to the market places, which is normally used by more than 1000 people.
Indirectly
The project has also managed to cover an estimated 300 community members who are indirect beneficiaries. This is through buying of the produce produced by individuals involved in the project or by just using the toilet.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
Improved environmental conditions around this area would be a very important indicator of the success of the project. The community has been dependent on a nearby river for there domestic water use and waste disposal. No permanent toilet has ever been constructed in the area due to the terrain (It is a plain area and is always prone to flooding). This has also attributed to the increase in diseases due to lack of proper disposal of wastes.
The Ecosan toilet provides the community with a healthy environment and there will be reduced dependent of the wetland for farming since they can use the small farms to get maximum yield.
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation, if so please describe?
This field has not been completed
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
The entire Nyamasaria Community are the direct beneficiaries of the project. The environment also “benefits” in terms of ensuring its cleanliness through proper waste disposal.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
The project was financed by SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency) through COSMERLAV and OSIENALA. It was financed in Three phases which included Training of the community Members and Construction of a Demonstration center for the ECOSAN Toilet. In the third Phase of the Project, construction of water harvesting points is going to be done.
The community has also been very instrumental in financing the project through provision of Manpower and innovative ideas. The community members have also been providing materials for the replication of the same project in other sites. This has involved the usage of readily available materials for construction.
Provide information on your finances and organization:
Current Annual Budget (Including grants)-11000USD
Annual Budget for the last (Including Grants (1-2) years- 24000USD
Annual Revenue generated (by the organization) - 3000USD
Sources of Earned Income- Sale of seedlings(From the Village Agro forestry Center)
Sale of T-shirts (Promotion of Environmental Awareness)
Tour-Guiding.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
There is an evidently high demand for the Ecosan Toilet and Water Harvesting Kits. There is no permanent toilet that has ever been built within the community. The Nyamasaria Community which has a population of around 20,000 are in high need of this toilet to ensure that there surrounding is safe and also to improve there nutrition standards. The replication of the Toilet by some community members with the readily available materials is also an indication of the high demand of the toilet.
The public institutions like schools and churches also require the Ecosan Toilet since they serve the wider community.
Number of staff(Full time-150,Part-Time-100, Volunteers-500)
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
Not all the community members have got the financial management skills therefore the money that has been made from the project might not be wisely spent to sustain the project.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
The riparian community, unique birds and animals rely on Dunga swamp for their survival. However, anthropogenic activities threaten the aforesaid as the swamp is shrinking at an alarming rate due to encroachment for agriculture/cultivation and livestock grazing, settlement, unsustainable papyrus harvesting and use in material culture industries leading to habitat loss as exemplified through cutting, burning and pollution of the swamp. According to Kenya’s IBAs Status and Trends report 2006, agricultural encroachment threatens 50% of the wetland sites and 46 % of the total number of sites in Kenya and the general status of the IBA is on decline. Papyrus cover loss at Dunga Swamp has been to the tune of 50% between 1969-2000 (Owino Alfred, 2005). And if habitat loss continues unabated at current rate, Dunga papyrus swamp will disappear before 2020 (Owino Alfred, 2005). The proximity of the swamp to Kisumu City puts particular strain on the swamp through pollution in the form of sewage and solid wastes (Nasirwa and Njoroge 1997, Bennun and Njoroge 1999). These problems are compounded by the fact that, the wetland is not under any protection and Kenya is yet to finalize on wetlands development and management policy.
Through the COSMER-LAV fund the Lake Victoria Sunset Birders has embarked on reversing this situation through setting up viable alternatives that can help conserve Dunga wetland while at the same time improve the livelihoods of the communities living around the wetland.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
Am Moses Odhiambo Abonga, 23 years old and Currently the head of Monitoring and Research at Lake Victoria Sunset Birders. The group is a Community Based Organization in Kenya that has been advocating for the conservation of the Lake Victoria Swamps as an Important Bird Area (IBA).
I graduated at Moi University with a Degree in Bsc. In Wildlife Management and obtained a Second Class Honors. LVSB has been able to work with the communities around to promote conservation.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Community Members showing visitors one of the Toilets.jpg | 49.11 KB |
| Replica of the Ecosan Toilet By a community Member.jpg | 74.76 KB |
| Vegetable Farm.JPG | 72.35 KB |
 | odhiambo said: Hi Julie, Sorry about taking too long to reply. EM is only used after the 5 or 6 month when the manure is ready to be put in the ... about this Competition Entry. - 921 days ago read more > |
| Julie A said: Great Work!!! You mentioned in a previous post that effective microorganisms can also be used to treat the waste in the toilets. How ... about this Competition Entry. - 1032 days ago read more > |
| jacky foo said: >....The entire Nyamasaria Community are the direct beneficiaries of the project. >The environment also “benefits” in terms of ... about this Competition Entry. - 1416 days ago read more > |
