ROSA - Resource-Oriented Sanitation concepts for peri-urban areas in Africa

The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, target 10) call for halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. ROSA promotes resource-oriented sanitation concepts as a route to sustainable and ecologically sound sanitation in order to meet the MDGs. These concepts shall be applied in four cities in East-Africa, namely Arbaminch (Ethiopia), Nakuru (Kenya), Arusha (Tanzania) and Kitgum (Uganda). The consortium comprises 2 partners from each of these countries, a university and an end-user. For the model cities strategic sanitation & waste plans (SSWPs) will be developed for the whole city area. These SSWPs will come up with the best solution for the city combining several techniques (resulting in hybrid systems) according to the local requirements. Within the project a part of the SSWPs will be developed in peri-urban areas, where there is a lot of research need for resource-oriented sanitation. Research topics addressed within ROSA are targeting the gaps for the implementation of these concepts in peri-urban areas. They include e.g. an implementation study of the updated WHO-guidelines for use of waste and excreta, the improvement and adaptation of resource-oriented sanitation technologies and the development of community based operation and management strategies. For the implementation of the complete SSWPs the ROSA consortium will develop possibilities for financing. This will be facilitated by the already existing international network of the consortium and the strong link of the activities to on-going programmes/projects in East Africa (e.g. the "Lake Victoria Initiative" of the UN Habitat, the WSP of the Worldbank, the Dutch ISSUE Programme, the Swedish EcoSanRes Programme, etc.). Dissemination activities will be focused on establishing the local East African network between universities, end-users, etc. This network will ensure the consolidation and the replication of the knowledge gained within the region.