Ecosan in Nakuru, Kenya

The situation
Nakuru town was once the cleanest town in the East and Central Africa region in the 70s. However, due to persistent environmental degradation and population growth, the town has witnessed the fall of its cleanliness standards to a bare minimal that it is now history to the residents that the town used to be cleaned.

The initiative
The Nakuru municipality population led by the ISSUE stakeholders, Practical Action formerly known as Intermediate Technology Development Group, Nakuru Business Association, and the Municipal council of Nakuru have been concerned about the state of their environment and formed a consortium to start tackling the problem. A plan in which stakeholders were involved is being set up and more and more organisations are joining and participating. As it does not only tackle the problem of lack of toilets but aims at cleaning the city as a whole, there is a wide range of activities.

Four stakeholders tell why they have joined the consortium.

The District Officer: Stephen Nyakundi
The government lacks the capacity to oversee and facilitate all the development projects and has to associate with lead agencies. In this programme the government provides for the much needed financial support - through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). This has resulted ao in the fencing of the dump-site within the municipality, tree planting around the town, organizational and socio-political backup.

Stephen Nyakundi sees that the programme

They include but not limited to seeing the local residents conscious on waste disposal and water sanitation, proper garbage disposal, training of Municipal Council of Nakuru work-ers which have seen them become more conscious of garbage collection - this has been the element of change that has been seen so far, tree planting and the height of it - School award giving competition.