Hi Nazir, you are welcome. Please don't hesitate to contact us/GIZ when you are in Uganda.

Regards,
Fredrick

Mr Frederick, I thank you for the videos, very interesting and sad. I will be visiting your country soon and will notify you, maybe it would be possible that we meet.

Regards

Nazir

Hi Enno,

I am sure you are aware of our policy brief on sanitation coverage in Kampala's slums, there is also reference to institutional aspects.

Cheers Christoph@Sandec :)

Dear Enno,
The challenge of urban slums is definitely upon us. From complex land tenure systems to highly transient populations to uncoordinated investments, interventions in slums seem to come off as the proverbial "drop in the ocean". As someone familiar with Kampala's slums, there have been plenty of uncoordinated sanitation improvements with little or no focus to providing localized solutions. The result? The slum residents use the toilets for a while, abandon them, and it's back to square one.

GIZ Uganda recently put together two video clips to showcase both the sanitation situation and efforts at mitigation. The latter involved approaches such as sanitation marketing, product acquisition through micro-credits and installment purchase, construction labour subsidies, promoting sanitation as a business for private sector, etc. GIZ contributed funds towards subsidies, and fostered cooperation among a multitude of players; i.e., local authorities, private sector, user communities, etc.

Here-under are the links and short descriptions for the clips.

"No Place to Go"


The Clip aims at depicting the sanitation situation in informal settlements with Bwaise (Kampala) as a case study. The clip tells the story of a young girl’s dilemma in answering nature’s call – from sanitation facilities that are not within easy reach to the terrible state of the facilities to „flying toilets“ within the settlements. The idea is to get the audience to empathise with the girl’s plight and feel the urge to change the situation.

"Dirty?Money"

This Clip portrays the interventions undertaken by GIZ and its partners in alleviating the sanitation situation. Sanitation entrepreneurship is the theme of the clip. The clip covers the sanitation marketing approach in Bwaise with SSWARS and Crestank that targeted landlords and small businesses. The second part of the clip focuses on how GIZ is promoting private sector participation in managing public toilets. Kayunga Town is featured as the case study.

Regards,
Fredrick

Dear Enno,

Could you please narrow down your question a bit further, as it is a little bit vague like this?
Isn't it a bit contradictory to spek of institutional settings for informal settlements? After all, if there was a proper institutional setup then the informal settlment would not be "informal". So I think an informal settlement is characterised by a lack of government institutions (or maybe in theory they are in charge and responsible but in practice they are usually not able to perform).

I suspect that the company Peepoople has possible some good experience with how to work in urban slums (even though they come in as an NGO). Camilla told me that in the slums in Kibera where she worked in, there are still elders or chiefs whom you need to consult with and get on your side. Roland Werchota (GIZ Kenya) pointed out that you often also have mafia-like conditions in slums in Kenya, whereby your plans to e.g. build a water kiosk is attacked because the expensive water vendors don't want to lose their business (and they are part of the mafia-like structures).

What can you tell us about the informal settlements in Kampala (Uganda)? Is the government planning to legalise them or rather wants to move people?

Greetings,
Elisabeth

Dear Enno,
That is a crucial issue with regard to informal settlements. I have heard a lot about Indian cities that have made some impressive progress to improve living conditions and legalise the settlements. This issue should also be touched by the current activities on making the "city sanitation plans". You could get in touch with the GIZ program in India who are heavily involved in that.

Regards,
Christian

Dear all,

I am just trying to gather information on best practices regarding institutional setups enabling (effective) sanitation in informal settlements.
Many of you will probably agree if I am saying that effective implementation of sanitation systems is not only a matter of technological issues. Many other aspects have to be considered whereby the question of the institutional setup is very a prominent one.

Does anyone know about such enabling environments in terms of the institutional setup (e.g. what actors should be involved? How should they be involved? What were the tools they used?).

Best regards from Kampala,

Enno