Bio-latrine construction in progress

Mji Wa Huruma Village is a slum about 2 km from the United Nations Offices in Nairobi, at Gigiri and contiguous to Karura Forest and Ruaka River. The Mji Wa Huruma Project comprises two parts:
1. The Bio-center
2. Capacity Building Programme
This Project is a multi-purpose pilot project which combines sanitation improvement, renewable energy promotion, capacity building and income-generation. If the pilot works, the successful experience of the project could be shared with other informal settlements or communities in Kenya and will benefit a large population of people living in poor conditions.

• Sanitation improvement: According to the census carried out by UNEP and the Huruma Community, 78% of the families in Huruma village are using the bush or forest as a toilet. Currently, UNEP, UNDP and UN-HABITAT, working as a ‘One UN’ team, are planning to build a Bio-latrine for the Huruma community to improve the sanitation conditions and also alleviate the negative impacts on environment caused by human waste.
• Renewable energy promotion: Methane-based biogas is a by-product of the Bio-latrine and could be collected and led out for cooking or heating water. The census showed that 66% of the households in the village use firewood as the main source of fuel for cooking. Most of the firewood is collected from the nearby Karura forest. The use of Biogas in a community cooker will reduce the time and labor for collecting firewood in the forest, avoid deforestation and improve the energy utilization efficiency.
• Capacity Building :The capacity building activities include training courses on project management and Participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation (PHAST). By participating in the implementation of the project, the community has built the capacity and gained the experience on project management which will make it possible for them to implement projects independently in the future.
• Income generation: A 3-storey Bio-center will be constructed for the Huruma village. The ground floor is pit latrines and shower places; the first floor is the offices for rent and the second floor is open conference space for rent. The rent from the offices and conference space will generate some income for the community.

Progress - [ Download Full Report ]

1. Land-use permit: An official land-use permit for the construction of the Bio-latrine was issued by the City Council of Nairobi on 12th September 2007.
2. Census: A census in the Huruma village was carried out by the Huruma community and ROA/UNEP in October 2007. The primary draft of the census report is currently under review.
3. Finance mobilization: The Chinese Embassy has kindly donated $25,000 to UNEP for the construction of the Bio-latrine. East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) Foundation has donated KSh 300,000 to support the reforestation activities in Karura Forest.
4. Ground-breaking Ceremony: A ground breaking ceremony will be held at the proposed site of the Bio-latrine in Huruma village on 14th February, 2008. The donation ceremony (Chinese Embassy) and the tree-planting ceremony will be combined in this ground breaking ceremony.
5. Signing of Agreement with Umande Trust: On 14 March 2008, the Small Scale Funding Agreement (SSFA) was signed by Mr. William Misati (on behalf Umande Trust) and Ms. Cristina Boelcke, Director of Division of Regional Cooperation.
6. Construction of the Bio-center:
7. Capacity Building Activities: Training sessions on constitution making for Mji Wa Huruma coalition, business planning for the Bio-center and shareholding and maintenance of Bio-center

Jua Kali Enterprises Pilot Project between Globe Cinema and Race Course Round Abouts
Implementing agency: City Council of Nairobi (CCN)

Jua Kali Products in Gikomba

The stretch of Nairobi River behind Kirinyaga Road, between Globe Cinema Round-about and Race Course Round-about gets polluted by discharges from blocked and burst sewers, indiscriminate dumping of garbage, human waste, used motor engine oil, and car washing activities.  NRBP will partner with NCBDA and CCN to work with micro-enterprises in this stretch of the river and pilot a bottom-up environmental improvement programme.

In close consultation, the City Council of Nairobi, Nairobi River Basin Programme, identified the river area between Museum Hill and Race Course Road as a first demonstration site. The implementation of this demonstration project will take place in cooperation with the City Council, UN-HABITAT, UNDP and UNEP.

The identified river stretch is a very active area with various economic activities. The site is a source of livelihood to many people, living and working here. There are many garages, which are the hub of business within the stretch. These garages have attracted other businesses such as car wash, spare part shops, cushion making, food kiosks, and open air food sellers. Another major economic activity along the river basin is waste (paper) recycling which has been operating along the basin for decades. 

All these human activities, including some shelters, use the river in one way or the other. By doing so, they have an impact on the quality of the river. Based on a quick situation analysis of the area, a participatory process with the people working and living in this neighbourhood to determine with them what their relation is with the river, and how they can reduce the negative impact of their activities on the river.

Environmentally Friendly Practices In Nairobi River Catchment
Implementing agency: University of Nairobi (UoN) - School of Biological and Physical Sciences

A) Mushroom farming from plant waste matter

Nairobi River Basin Programme, in collaboration with University of Nairobi’s School of Biological and Physical Sciences, has introduced mushroom growing at the Ngong Road Forest.  This pilot project is being undertaken by the Mtego Self Help Group.  The project is designed to be an environmentally-friendly enterprise that uses plant waste matter such as saw dust, wood shavings and crop residues as substrates for mushroom growing.  Mass conversion ratio of substrate to mushroom is 2:3 under optimal conditions. 

Saw dust and wood shavings used to grow mushrooms >> Photogallery

The University of Nairobi provides mushroom spawn, training and technical advice as a free contribution to the community.  An awareness on the importance of mushroom growing as an alternative income-generator for forest-adjacent communities is growing.  This is in addition to its nutritional values as a delicacy, a source of protein, vitamins, minerals and medicinal values.  Research has shown that financial returns from mushroom can be attractive: 1 kilogram of Oyster Mushroom fetches between KShs 400 - 720 locally, which has a ready export market. This species of mushroom takes as little as seven days from seeding to harvesting. 

A successful mushroom growing project will improve community’s understanding of the link between mushrooms and forest protection.  This will fulfill the objectives of protecting water catchments of Nairobi rivers and promote biodiversity.

B ) Products from Recycled waste material

Ornaments and African Bags made from Recycled Materials >> Photogallery

Management of waste material generated from domestic, commercial and industrial sources is a major challenge in many African cities.  Efforts by municipal authorities to maintain the cities clean and healthy for the residents are hampered by growing amounts of waste and lack of efficient means of collecting, processing and disposing the waste material.  Recycling of the waste material and producing marketable products can serve the twin role of minimizing its accumulation in the city and avoiding potential health risks to humans as well as increasing family income from the sale of the recycled products.  However, it is not clear how recycling of waste can be promoted to ensure environmental sustainability (Millennium Development Goal 7) and eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1) in urban areas of Africa.

Bee Keeping and Environmental Rehabilitation of Karura Forest
Implementing Agencies: African Beekeepers Ltd, Unilever-Tea and Kenya Forest Service

The Nairobi River Basin Programme – Phase III (NRBP–Phase III) has introduced bee-keeping at the Karura Forest as an alternative source of income-generation for the forest-adjacent communities.  The project aims at improving livelihoods of community groups within the larger river basin.  Once the communities are able to link the benefits of bee-keeping to that of forest protection, then the objectives of protecting the water catchment of Nairobi rivers and promoting biodiversity will be achieved.  Bees are good pollinators and many flowering plants depend on them to transfer pollen, hence biodiversity.  It is estimated that more than 75% of plants from the tropics, such as Kenya, benefit from bee pollination.

Tree Planting in Karura Forest

Karura Forest is a remnant of closed canopy forests in Kenya, which habour harbour large percentage of the country's biodiversity, including woody plant species, large mammals, birds and butterflies.  Closed canopy indigenous forests in Kenya cover less than 2% of total land area, making Karura very special indeed. The forest covers over 1,000 hectares and is water catchment for four major tributaries of the Nairobi River: the Thigiri, the Karura, the Ruiruaka and the Gitathuru. In addition, the forest acts as a "lung" for the city and purifies the air by absorbing significant quantities of carbon dioxide (a Green House Gas) released from activities within Nairobi City. 

Bee keeping equipment donated to the community >> Photogallery

Eighty (80) bee hives have been provided to the community, and experiential training is underway by the African Beekeepers Ltd.  The community will be trained on harvesting, processing and packaging of the honey.  Modern Langstroth Hives have been preferred to the traditional Log Hives or the Kenya Top Bar Hives. These hives are also gender friendly and can be used by all, women, youth and men.  Yield of honey using the Langstroth Hives is higher at an average of 30Kg of honey/hive/year. It is estimated that the community will be able to earn as much as KSh. 290,000 per year from the hives.  Other by-products include high value hive products like Royal Jelly.

The Community Cooker is a simple and inexpensive structure build of sustainable construction materials that is simple to maintain, and visually compatible with the environment and communities served. It has been designed to generate heat from local rubbish collected by people who live in the informal settlements of Nairobi. It targets high social returns to unskilled community labour, thus providing employment and environmental improvement at the lowest possible capital cost.

Community Cooker

Rubbish of high calorific value (excluding plastics which are sold to recyclers to generate separate income) is burned in the cooker to generate heat for hot water, cooking and baking. The selected organic waste is be transported to the site and exchanged through barter trade (rubbish is taken in by volume measure and exchanged for plastic token) for a specified period of cooking or baking, or a defined volume of hot water.   No cash changes hands in this process.  Baking is very popular with youths and women groups at it generates direct income and can be traded for work packages and garbage collection.

The main challenge is to reduce fast accumulating heaps of rubbish by encouraging local communities to burn it in a simple and cost-effective controlled burners.  The ash generated is used to sterilize pit latrines, sold as manure (lime) or used to pave pathways.  The burning process has been designed to meet environmentally acceptable emission standards and provide direct commercial benefit to the community.  Discarded sump oil is carefully mixed with water and introduced drop-by-drop to enhance the combustion process.

The first Community Cooker has been built at Laini Saba, Kibera, where local residents allocated land for this purpose.  It is expected that this intervention, once widely applied, will reduce the volume of waste material contaminating Nairobi streams and rivers.   

Environmental Management System for Commerce and Industry
Implementing Agency: Kenya National Cleaner Production Centre ( KNCPC )

Previous studies on the Nairobi River Basin points to the link between slum areas and concentrations of pollution within the river system. Other hot spots are as a result of industrial effluent into the river system. In order to curb the latter, the Kenya National Cleaner production centre whose mandate is to develop national capacity to implement and sustain cleaner production in industry and business is charged with the responsibility of :-

1. Support capacity building efforts for enforcement of environmental management standards
2. Cluster industrial enterprises into interest groups and facilitate their development of environmental codes of conduct and practice
3. Support the development and implementation of sector specific environmental codes of conduct
4. Conduct training on appropriate industrial effluent treatment technologies and practices.

The KNCPC Award Ceremony

The Centre has already undertaken an inventory of business enterprises and under a project dubbed the Cleaner Industrial Production for Nairobi River (CIPNR) has identified thirty four (34) businesses for pilot under the project. Some of the businesses are amongst the group that are already front runners up in the national cleaner production programme and shall provide leadership to the others.   The first cleaner production award ceremony was held on 26th October 2006 and concept has been widely embraced by industries within the Nairobi River Basin. Under the CIPNR, the Centre will continuously monitor cleaner production and encourage businesses to vie for the Cleaner Production award.

Further to this, the Centre together with the industry sector is in the process of developing a voluntary code of conduct for the environment with initiatives by industry for industry. The code being voluntary means that compliance is not a legal requirement but designed to stimulate business members to voluntarily check their environmental, cultural and economic performance that ultimately benefit the entire society. The centre has also started training businesses on appropriate industrial effluent treatment technologies. When industries discharge waste water with acceptable levels of load, then there will be a reduction in the Nairobi river pollution.