Maji na Ufanisi first piloted the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Enterprise Model (WASHEM) in Mombasa County’s Kongowea market, where 60 public toilets were rehabilitated. The facilities were redesigned to be disability friendly and handed to youth groups for management. The youths were trained on basic business skills. Currently, each facility generates enough revenue to cater for maintenance and staff salaries.
This Water and Sanitation model has been used in areas like Bangladesh which is an informal settlement, public markets like Kongowea and Makupa markets, public spaces and public recreation sites like Kongowea, Pirates Beach, Buxton and Likoni bus parks, Makadara, Townhall, Nakumatt, Railways and Mama Ngina all within Mombasa County.
Over 10,000 people have benefited from improved WASH services and 100 women and youth have directly benefited from employment from these public sanitation facilities.
In May 2015, MnU’s project in Kongowea public market was rated first out of over 900 projects that had been competing for an international award that was given by AMCOW (African Ministers’ Council on Water) and UNICEF. The most notable aspect of the project was its innovative way of transforming former street urchins and “chokoras” into custodians of the rehabilitated WASH facilities.
