Dear all,

For more information on the initial incentive trial that was conducted in Mombasa in 2014, please see my talk from FSM3 (January 2015 in Hanoi) here:



Or go to time 11 seconds in this video:

Hi Elizabeth,

Thank you for your questions. Incentive schemes were designed to encourage sludge disposal at future site of the waste-to-fuel plant as opposed to hapazardly in the community. Emptiers in the treatment group received the opportunity to take advantage of two incentive programs: 1) sludge pick-up from a focal point in the community or 2) sludge drop-off dropping at the plant in exchange for a cash reward on a per volume basis. All transportation costs were paid for by Pivot during the trial period. All emptiers in the treatment cohorts were entitled to use equipment provided by pivot such as 50 gallon barrels and PPE (rubber boots, rubber gloves, protective eyewear, respirators, coveralls, and rubber jumpsuits) and stored in "sanistations" in the community. Incentive one, sludge pick-up from a focal point, was chosen in 21 of 22 empties that took place over the course of the trial. It was more feasible for the emptiers as most didn't have access to a vehicle to use for drop-offs.

Hope that answers your questions. I am very happy to share my photographs with the SusanA community on the flickr database. I am happy to provide the images in their original resolution.

-Rachel

Dear Rachel,

Thanks for posting your presentation. It's a pity the video of your presentation is not yet available but I have heard that they are coming soon now (sneak preview: www.youtube.com/user/TruyenThongSoHD/playlists)

Just based on the powerpoint slides, I couldn't quite understand which incentives exactly you offered? And which incentives worked the best? Was it mainly just about providing personal protective equipment (but how would that be an incentive to deliver the fecal sludge at the designated collection point?)?

I found it interesting that you listed these three costs of the pit emptiers:

1. Alcohol (to make the work bearable!)
2. Bribes (to bribe local leaders!)
3. Chemicals (to "disinfect" the sludge - which chemicals do they use? Is this something you'd discourage in future as it could interfere with reuse options if you have nasty chemicals in the fecal sludge?)

And finally, I would like to ask you about your pit emptying photos. Would you be willing to make them available in the SuSanA flickr database? We are always after good photos showing the grim realities of dealing with fecal sludge...
You see other photos from Kenya, which Doreen Mbalo had provided in the past, here:
www.flickr.com/photos/gtzecosan/sets/72157629202806662/

Regards,
Elisabeth

I have attached my presentation at the recent FSM3 conference on key findings from our incentive trial here.

Hello Doreen,

Sorry for the delayed response as our field team has been very busy here in Mombasa. It seems like the UBSUP program in Nairobi has has made great strides in providing support to the utilities and making an impact on the immediate needs of communities.

Our informal sourcing team here at Pivot has done a series of trainings covering health, occupational safety, and entrepreneurial development. We are now in the process of getting the proper liscencing to the emptiers that have been identified. One of our main challenges in Mombasa is ensuring the protection of emptiers from reprimanding and arrest by the authorities who deem their emptying practices as illegal. It would be very helpful to learn more about your procedure to ensure the legal protection of the emptying entrepreneurs you work with.

While we understand the common use of "chura" as a derogatory term, in our initial meetings with the emptiers, we discovered that this name has been reappropriated to an extent that it is no longer a slur, but a marker of identity for many emptier groups in Mombasa. In fact, some call us part of their "team chura." Rather than assigning a group name to our partners, we have encouraged them to choose names that they prefer.

If you would like to read a bit more about our operations, we have started a blog on some of our activities in the community. Here is our first post: www.pivotworks.co/updates/2014/9/22/feca...public-health-heroes

It would be fantastic to the trainings that the SafiSan Sanitation Team holds. Are there any scheduled trainings this month? It would be great to have members of our field staff or emptier organizations come, learn, and share information.

Congrats on your project and it is great to be in touch!

Rachel

Dear Rachel,

Thank you for the information that you have provided. I had the chance to meet with Ashley last week and we discussed a little about the work of Pivot in Mombasa. In addition, I also gave her information about the current developments of the UBSUP programme. For more information, please visit this thread:

forum.susana.org/forum/categories/97-ena...f-and-giz-kenya#6607

First and foremost I noticed that you use the name “Chura” to refer to manual emptiers. Even though this is a common name particularly in low income areas, it is a derogatory name which further aids in stigmatising emptiers and the work that they do, taking into consideration that they do the job to the best of their ability without any assistance. We completely refrain from using this term in the sector. Think of another name that you can use for the group that you are training. Within the UBSUP programme, we are using the SafiSan Sanitation Team.

Within the UBSUP programme, a step by step procedure has been developed that will ensure that the emptiers are formalised and integrated within the legal and institutional framework. The step by step procedure covers identification, registration, practical and theoretical training, certification and licensing with the appropriate bodies. It also looks at the appropriate equipment that needs to be used to ensure that the emptiers are well protected. I would be happy to share with you and your team this document once I complete it and get approval to circulate it. You are also welcome to attend one of the SafiSan Sanitation Team trainings that will be held in Oloolaiser, Nakuru and Embu.

Best regards,

Doreen

We are also looking at E Coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus but the lab data from our first fieldwork excess isn't complete yet so I haven't reported it. We are finding we need to fine tune our sampling methods though, as the bacteria are showing up everywhere, both before pit emptying and after, which tells us how contaminated household environments can be but doesn't show very clearly how much contamination has happened through the pit emptying exercise. Lots of contamination is showing up on workers' hands and faces too, but while this is probably from pit emptying in general it could be from handling their dirty equipment before pit emptying and once again it is difficult to isolate what has happened specifically during one pit emptying exercise. We are improving our collection methods, though, and will let you know what the results are once we are able to do more fieldwork.

Regards

Bobbie

Bobbie,

Thank you for posting this! It is a tremendous resource. It is great to see a multifaceted and rigorous approach to assessing risks to manual emptiers.

I noticed that your pathogen testing is centered on helminthes. Is there a reason you chose to test for helminthes only? What about other bacterial, viral and protozoan pathogens that are found in sludge and contribute to significant disease burden?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Here in Mombasa, emptiers are already using up to 100 gallons of water to remove deeper, drier, and more compacted sludge at the bottom of the latrine. Furthermore, much of the population is muslim washers, so the sludge is quite wet anyway.
We are working in collaboration with a municipal WWTP and our dewatering system is effective at removing solids from their incoming flows that are 0.1 % solid. It is unlikely that watered latrine sludge will be diluted to a level much higher than this so I don’t think water is going to be a particular issue for our operations.

Transporting sludge that has been excessively hydrated will be a major challenge in developing our business model as it will require additional and expensive resources such as more/larger containers, larger trucks, or more trips per empty. The goal of our initial sourcing trial is analyze the cost/benefit ratio of various combinations of sludge removal, hauling, and transportation schemes in delivering the quality and quantity of sludge necessary to drive net gains for our company and the emptiers.

Hi Elizabeth,

Thank you for the warm response. I am in touch with Sherina and her team in Kampala is helping us get a fully assembled gulper 2.0/rammer prototype to Mombasa.

The reasons we chose to go with the gulper 2.0/Rammer over the excravator are the following:

1.Capital cost- The Rammer has significantly lower capital costs ($300 USD for materials and manufacturing). The Excravator run from $1,000 to $3,000, not including the cost of fuel.

2. Accessibility and proximity of prototypes in Kampala and a relatively low shipping cost to our site Mombasa.

We should be receiving the equipment in the coming weeks so I will make sure to update the forum on our experience using the equipment.

Best,

Rachel Sklar

Apologies for not sending an update sooner as you requested, Elisabeth. Our project on practices to protect the health of pit emptiers, householders and the environment during pit emptying has been stalled for more than a year due to the pit emptying programmes we are studying being on hold. I have written up what we've learnt so far however in the document attached. Section 5 provides a framework for a health and safety programme which might be useful for the training sessions in Kenya, it could also be customized to a specific pit emptying programme and be included in a contract or be used by a health and safety officer as a guide. We also have a student who has been testing the efficacy of various cleaning products in deactivating helminth eggs, I will send that information along once it is ready.

Regards

Bobbie

Also, I would say look at the materials that come out of South Africa on this topic, in particular eThekwini Municipality and also Partners in Development (www.pid.co.za - Dave Still). Perhaps they have even uploaded some training guides on their website.

As a starting point, check out these 3 volumes by Dave and co. on "Tackling the challenges of full pit latrines":

Still, D., Foxon, K., O’Riordan, M. (2012). Tackling the challenges of full pit latrines - Volumes 1 to 3. WRC Report No. 1745/1/12, Water Research Commission, South Africa.
susana.org/lang-en/library?view=ccbktypeitem&type=2&id=1712

I copy here something from the Appendix of volume 1 - the focus seems to be on protective equipment (could be quite difficult to enforce in hot climates!) and on health measures for the workers: vaccination and deworming.

Specification

Pit emptying workers must wear personal protective
equipment while engaged in pit emptying and sludge
transport. Minimum requirements are:
· Overalls
· Steel toe capped gumboots
· Heavy duty rubber gloves
· Gas masks

Pit emptying workers will be medically screened before
during and after employment, and will be treated with
deworming medication every six months and six months
after termination of employment. Those with highly
compromised immune systems should not be selected for
this work.

Even with the use of PPE, pit emptying workers are at a
high risk of infection and should be looked after.
Deworming medication should be administered to families
where pit emptying has taken place six months after
emptying.

Even if workers are careful it is hard to empty a pit
without making a mess. A course of deworming
medication taken six months after the exercise will deal
with possible infection.

Also, I would say take a look how Sanergy trains and protects its sanitation workers, who are emptying buckets from single vault urine diversion dehydration toilets in Nairobi.
See e.g. here:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/52-mob...ry-loo-user-and-kiva
oer here:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/52-mob...rgy-in-nairobi-kenya

Please don't forget if you do find good materials to post them here so that we can include them in the SuSanA library to that others can benefit, too. Thanks.

Oh and about the issue of incentives, perhaps this franchising concept from South Africa could be interesting for you:

Wall, K., Bhagwan, J., Ive, O. (2011). Piloting franchising O&M partnerships: connecting unrelated concepts, to create something innovative. 35th WEDC International Conference, UK.
susana.org/lang-en/library/library?view=...eitem&type=2&id=1573

Regards,
Elisabeth