Background
The reformed institutions of the Kenyan Water Sector under the lead of the former Ministry of Water and Irrigation (now the Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources) started giving priority to the improvement of water supply and sanitation services to the urban poor.
Current capacities are still limited and will have to be extended in order to create significant impact on poverty reduction. GIZ has supported the Kenyan sector institutions since 2003. The «Water Sector Reform Programme» (WSRP) project aims at improving regulation and financing mechanisms related to the provision of water supply and sanitation services for the urban poor. This incorporates the implementation of water supply and sanitation projects through the Water Services Trust Fund (WSTF) and the development of standards for pro-poor service provision.
The WSTF Urban Projects Concept (UPC) has since late 2011 addressed the up-scaling need through concept development for a household and plot level sanitation approach. The program targets the population who are still underserved with regard to the provision of formalized water service provision in low income urban settlements.
The UBSUP concept focuses on the marketing and sale of appropriate onsite sanitation systems coupled with the establishment of sustainable emptying and transport services and sludge treatment (i.e. it covers the entire sanitation chain).
Call for Participance
Participating water service providers are being chosen based on calls for proposals carried out by WSTF. During the first call approx. 40 water service providers submitted project proposals and 20 were chosen to participate in the first phase of implementation.
Households/landlords living in the project areas express their interest at the responsible water service provider to construct a household toilet that fulfils the standards set by UBSUP. Households contract an artisan for the construction and only once the toilet was built according to standards, the household receives a subsidy that covers part of the construction cost. In additions, in the project areas the UBSUP team together with water service providers trains so called sanitation teams on the safe emptying of toilets and transport of sludge. In project areas were no treatment facility is nearby, UBSUP also funds the construction of decentralized treatment facilities.