Differentiated and conflicting incentives across the sanitation value chain: the case of Sanergy in Nairobi

Abstract

The challenge of achieving safely managed sanitation in low-income settlements in the context of rapid urban expansion in Nairobi is significant. National and county government plans for sanitation focus primarily on extending large-scale sewer systems, but in recent years, there had been increasing activity on non-sewered sanitation, particularly container-based sanitation (CBS) to potentially extend safely managed sanitation. Market-based CBS providers received extensive investment and promised to rapidly scale service delivery. Yet, progress has faltered, and scaling up is proving to be problematic. We apply a service characteristics analysis to examine the case of Sanergy, a CBS provider. Data are drawn from documents and stakeholder interviews. We demonstrate that misaligned incentives between stakeholders explain why extensive scaling up has (so far) failed to materialise. In particular, the creation of a self-sustaining faecal waste circular economy has proved to be elusive and highlights the need for the state to engage actively in sanitation provision as a public good.