City-Level Decoupling-Case Studies

CITY-LEVEL DECOUPLING: URBAN RESOURCE FLOWS AND THE GOVERNANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSITIONS

When the project began, government responses to sanitation in urban informal settlements were non-existent and aid agencies working on water and sanitation were mostly focused on rural interventions. Government agencies were unwilling to service informal settlements because they feared it would further stimulate their expansion. 105 In the absence of expert assistance, CCODE used the internet to access information regarding design and construction of toilets and over the past eight years the MHPF and CCODE have experimented to find a sanitation technology that is suited to the local context. Initially, Forsa Alterna toilets were constructed but these proved unsuccessful due to functionality and aesthetic problems that negatively affected social acceptability. User problems with these toilets were taken seriously and triggered a revision of the approach and experimentation with Skyloos began in 2008. Skyloos are urine diverting dry toilets situated atop above-ground, dual-chamber vaults. Urine is diverted into soak-aways or jerry cans, for use as fertiliser. At any one time one chamber is in use while the other chamber is sealed so that decomposition of the faecal matter can occur. It takes on average six months for the chamber in use to fill up, which is approximately the period required for complete composting of the matter in the sealed chamber. By the time the human waste needs to be handled it is benign, and tests by the Bunda College of Agriculture, University of Malawi revealed that, after an additional two-week waiting period the manure was safe to use for growing food crops. 106

The Skyloo is a form of ecological sanitation (ecosan): it allows for the safe management of human waste without burdening water resources and it facilitates the reclamation and re-use of sanitation by-products. 107 It is interesting to note that this ecological technology was chosen in this case despite a lack of ecological motivations. As discussed above, the initial impetus for the initiative was demand from landlords who saw their traditional sanitation response was no longer viable in an urbanising and densifying world. The determinants of demand are evolving as the benefits of using the compost for growing crops for household consumption becomes more apparent. To amplify the natural trajectory of demand, MHPF members who were the first adopters of the ecosan organised into mobilisation task teams. The mobilisation task teams function to create awareness around the space saving, food security and health benefits of ecosan. Once demand has been catalysed, households

Ecosan adopters in Mtandire, Lilongwe. Ecosan adopters are predominantly landlords who invest in the facility for their own use as well as for use by their tenants. (Source: author, Lauren Tavener-Smith, September 2011)

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