Sanitation for Sustainable Development in Informal Settlements in Kigali City, Rwanda: A Synthesis of the Evidence To Inform Policy and Practice

Abstract

This paper synthesizes the literature on sanitation in Kigali city, Rwanda. The synthesis is limited to solid and liquid waste generation and management in Kigali. It describes initiatives adopted to achieve sanitation for sustainable development, identifies current challenges and offers some solutions to help the city respond appropriately. The synthesis is part of a wider innovative evidence informed policy making initiative known as Utafiti Sera (research policy communities) that facilitates the building of communities of stakeholders working together to ensure that appropriate and negotiated civic actions and policy uptake occur around a particular public problem for which there is research evidence. Thus, the synthesis brings together two sets of evidence to draw the policy recommendations: in-depth discussions among urban governance stakeholders in Kigali between September 2017 – December 2018 and a review of the literature on sanitation in Kigali. Efforts to improve sanitation for residents in informal settlements in Kigali are hampered by three main challenges: lack of a central sewerage management and treatment system, lack of standardized communal landfill to manage solid and liquid waste and inadequate funding for projects aimed at improving sanitation. While there are strategies laid down to deal with sanitation issues in the upcoming Kigali masterplan of 2020, measures such as strengthened awareness at local level will be necessary.