Lessons in Urban Community Led Total Sanitation from Nakuru, Kenya, 2015.
Authors: Kath Pasteur and Preetha Prabhakaran
Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is an innovative methodology for mobilising communities to completely eliminate open defecation (OD). It has been applied in many rural areas in countries across the developing world. However, experience in urban settings has been limited. Practical Action and Umande Trust have implemented a project Realising Rights to Total Sanitation in two low income settlements in the city of Nakuru, Kenya, adapting the CLTS methodology to meet the challenges of the urban context.
This has involved devising a triggering exercise with landlords as well as tenants and using theatre to attract and sustain interest during community triggering. Working in an urban area has required considerable attention to designing, through a participatory process, low cost toilets that meet urban public health and building regulations.
