A path to faster and more effective change: fighting non-revenue water

This year’s theme for World Water Day, Accelerating Change, reminds us all of the urgent need to improve provision of clean water and safe sanitation around the world. At WSUP, we believe that combating waste of water and resources is essential if governments, utilities and communities are to speed up their journey towards water, sanitation […]


WSUP’s Wonderful Women in WASH

While Aklima sees herself as a facilitator, Pascaline wants to build her own sanitation marketing business The growing number of female leaders in water, sanitation and hygiene is improving communication with local communities and unleashing new approaches and ideas. On this year’s International Women’s Day, we focus on two of WSUP’s women who are transforming […]


Pilots offer alternatives to sanitation challenges in Zambia and Kenya

In Livingstone, south of Zambia, and Malindi, on the Kenyan coast, unsafe pit emptying services create public health risks for both workers and the community. The TRANSFORM project, implemented by WSUP and Sanivation, with support from Unilever, EY and UK Aid, offered legal, reliable and healthy pit emptying alternatives in low-income areas, with pilot projects […]


The promise of replenished aquifers in two Kenyan coastal cities

A new project, with funding from P4G and the participation of WSUP, will offer the cities of Mombasa and Malindi, in Kenya, a new and important tool to improve provision of water to their residents: Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR). The process involves capturing excess rainwater and infiltrating it into the ground for storing, through an […]


Lake Victoria nations come together for better sanitation

What is Lakewide Inclusive Sanitation (LWIS)? It is a strategy that can change the quality of life in the Lake Victoria Basin by improving essential service provision in the areas of water and sanitation. LWIS was the focus of a workshop in Kisumu, Kenya, at the end of 2022. The event brought together representatives of […]


Annual Report 2021-2022 shows progress of WSUP’s work in Africa and Asia

WSUP’s 2021-2022 Annual Report has been launched, showing how our organisation’s work in Southern Africa and Asia has advanced even more, with different initiatives in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in low-income urban areas. It was a particularly important year for WSUP’s activities promoting good WASH services for women and girls. Another highlight was its […]


From climate adaptation efforts to a stronger push for better living conditions for women and girls, in 2021-2022 WSUP advanced further in its work providing clean water and decent sanitation and promoting appropriate hygiene in low-income urban communities.

Our 2021-2022 Annual Report shows the result of WSUP’s activities, benefitting more than 1 million people in the past year, across Africa and South Asia. In the period, we achieved:

618,418 people with improved water access;

580,730 residents with improved sanitation services;

168,454 people with improved access to good hygiene;

and mobilised more than $12 million in additional investment.

Lord Paul Boateng, WSUP’s chairman, wrote:

“In addition to our work with households and families, we are also investing more and more in providing clean water and decent toilets in schools, helping reduce student absences and improving the educational chances for children, particularly girls.”

Ed Mitchell, who in 2022 assumed the position of WSUP’s CEO, writes:

“Together with our supportive partners, we can take pride in what we’ve done so far, but we also need to raise our sights and ambitions to reach many more people in desperate need.”

For many African cities, offering a decent toilet to all urban residents and ensuring that all faecal waste is safely managed is an ambitious vision that will take years to achieve, unless there is a fundamental shift in the delivery of sanitation services. This shift is already happening in Kenya, where more than two thirds of the population do not have access to safe sanitation services. Counties and cities are starting to adopt inclusive sanitation in their quest to achieve universal coverage for their residents.

Malindi is leading the way in adopting Citywide Inclusive Sanitaton (CWIS) principles, demonstrating a pathway for other cities and towns to follow. This Practice Note outlines how Malindi stakeholders are collaborating to deliver a long-term plan for improving sanitation services and making CWIS a reality.

 

More information on the full CWIS plan from Sanivation

Read also: Towards cleaner and more productive Malindi and Watamu

More information on the wider CWIS initiative from World Bank

 

The WSUP report A Guide to Simplified Sewer Systems in Kenya describes how a pilot project in the informal settlement of Mukuru has demonstrated a cost-effective way to bring decent sanitation to some communities in Kenya: simplified sewers.

New evidence shows that simplified sewer networks, which are much shallower and more flexible than traditional sewer systems, can form part of the solution to sanitation challenges faced by low-income urban communities in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. In the city’s densely packed informal communities, most people lack access to decent sanitation.

The practical and financial challenges of addressing this crisis are well documented, but the alternative of simplified sewers networks opens up new possibilities for better sanitation which could benefit millions of Kenyans.

A summary: the Nairobi simplified sewers pilot

Pilot demonstrates effectiveness of simplified sewers in Kenya

A pilot project in the informal settlement of Mukuru has demonstrated a cost-effective way to bring decent sanitation to some communities in Kenya: simplified sewers. Most residents in Kenya’s densely packed informal communities lack access to decent sanitation, and the practical and financial challenges of addressing this crisis are well documented. However, new evidence shows […]