Preparation of a grant operation in the on-site sanitation sector in Nairobi “Fresh Life Initiative Project” in Kenya

«Let’s talk shit» It is with theses words that Lindsay Stradley, co-founder of Sanergy, takes us in its plea on the need to act for the fecal sludge management in the slums of Kenya.

For 10 years, Sanergy has been focusing an ambitious project in 2 slums of Nairobi, from the manufacture of toilets to the transformation of excreta into marketable products. Funded by American “charities”, the project hopes to involve the Kenyan authorities to find its balance. The review of this project by Phœnix illustrates at least two things: fecal sludge in urban areas still does not have an institutional framework favourable to a appropriate management. One example: the profession of manual cleaners is officially not authorized forcing them to go underground; civil society and private actors can be engines to shift gradually position lines. The progress made by Sanergy is evocative: the project now manages the collection of excreta from 3,000 toilets, for 120,000 people and allows their transformation into animal feed and organic compost.

Even if the economic model is still fragile, these performances give hope in this sector where there is still so much to do!