VPUU, together with its partners, recently handed over completed alternative sanitation facilities in Nyakathisa (Macassar) and Masincedane (Strandfontein). These facilities form part of ongoing efforts to improve access to safe, dignified sanitation in neighbourhoods where it is most needed – supporting healthier living conditions, greater safety, and an improved quality of life for residents.
For many families living in informal settlements, access to adequate sanitation is not simply a service issue – it is a daily challenge that directly affects health, safety, and human dignity. In Cape Town alone, an estimated 230,000 households face barriers to adequate sanitation due to high settlement density, insecure land tenure, and limited access to bulk infrastructure.
Projects like these reflect the value of collaborative urban development and practical interventions that respond directly to community needs. Against this backdrop, VPUU was invited to participate in a ground-breaking pilot project exploring how alternative sanitation technologies could improve service delivery in informal settlements.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the pilot brought together the Water Research Commission, technology partners, the City of Cape Town, and VPUU, with each contributing specialised expertise to address one of the city’s most complex service delivery challenges.
VPUU’s role within the partnership was clear: to ensure that innovative sanitation technologies were firmly grounded in the lived realities of the communities they were intended to serve.
Drawing on its proven methodology, VPUU facilitated meaningful community participation throughout the design, implementation, and ongoing management of the project.
The process began with public meetings across five settlements – Nyakathisa, OR Tambo, Masincedane, 7de Laan, and Rasta Camp. These engagements enabled residents to collectively identify priorities, raise concerns, and nominate community representatives. These representatives went on to form a local leadership structure and received targeted training to support long-term project sustainability.
Too often, infrastructure projects fail not because of the technology itself, but because social risks are overlooked.
Through household surveys, focus group discussions, and continuous engagement, VPUU helped surface critical social risks and economic realities that could have undermined the project if left unaddressed.
One such insight was the assumption that all households could afford toilet paper. If left unchallenged, this assumption could have resulted in frequent system blockages, increased maintenance costs, and eventual infrastructure failure. By identifying this risk early, the project was able to adapt its approach in a way that protected both the technology investment and the dignity of residents.
To ensure shared accountability, trained community leaders participate in monthly monitoring and evaluation discussions alongside project partners. This inclusive approach enabled early problem identification, strengthened trust between communities and the City of Cape Town, and improved responsiveness throughout implementation.
Beyond improving access to sanitation, the project also unlocked local economic opportunities. Community members were employed as plant supervisors, cleaners, labourers, field workers, and monitors, strengthening local ownership of the infrastructure.
This integration of service delivery and capacity building reinforced a key lesson: sustainable infrastructure depends as much on people as it does on pipes, plants, and systems.
