Browsing by Author "Mdee, Anna"

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    On a journey to citywide inclusive sanitation (CWIS)? A political economy analysis of container-based sanitation (CBS) in the fragmented (in)formal city
    (Taylor and Francis, 2025) Mdee, Anna; Ofori, Alesia Dedaa; Barrington, Dani; Anciano, Fiona; Dube, Mmeli; Hutchings, Paul; Kramer, Sasha; López-Valladares, Hellen; Parker, Alison; Riungu, Joy Nyawira; Ward, Christopher
    Rapidly growing cities face the chronic challenge of access to safe, dignified and accessible sanitation, in contexts of inequality and informality. Technological and operational innovations, such as container-based sanitation (CBS), are promoted as relatively low-cost market-based circular economy off-grid solutions to deliver citywide inclusive sanitation (CWIS). However, in the absence of evidence that CBS is delivering on these promises, this paper asks: under what conditions can CBS services contribute to achieving CWIS goals? It applies a combined political economy and socio-technical regime analysis to examine multi-level governance in the sanitation sector and CBS service regimes in Cape Town, Lima, Nairobi and Cap-Haitien. Only Cape Town, a municipality-controlled system, demonstrates the necessary public authority that enables CBS to operate at scale. Yet, it is regarded by many residents in informal settlements as poor sanitation for poor people. This suggests that scaling CBS requires sustained public investment and strong coordinating authority.
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    The potential for scaling up container-based sanitation in informal settlements in Kenya
    (Wiley, 2022-02-21) Mallory, Adrian; Mdee, Anna; Agol, Dorice; Hyde-Smith, Leonie; Kiogora, Domenic; Riungu, Joy; Parker, Alison
    Kenya has enshrined the right to sanitation in the 2010 constitution. Achieving this requires scaling up infrastructure and models of delivery beyond sewer networks that have previously been the focus. In Kenya, two enterprises, Sanergy and Sanivation, have been providing new forms of off-grid services with container-based sanitation (CBS). This paper uses a political economy analysis to understand the incentives, institutions and power dynamics that are enabling or constraining the potential for such off-grid sanitation models. The paper outlines six core problems to be addressed in the pursuit of scaling up: fragmented governance; sustainability of CBS enterprise models; service delivery planning in informal settlements; personal power rather than institutions in decision-making; vested local interests; and land tenure and political connection. It discusses how stakeholders might work collaboratively to progressively address or recognise these issues.
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    Should indigenous knowledge in development be redefined? Lessons from the artisanal mining sector in Ghana
    (Liverpool University Press, 2025-04-15) Ofori, Alesia Dedaa; Mdee, Anna
    Indigenous knowledge is often posed as a unified body of knowledge, undefiled and somewhat sanctimonious. When it does not appear so, it is claimed that indigenous knowledge, particularly, has been ‘adulterated’ by Westernised ideologies from colonialism and modernisation. This perceived dichotomy, i.e. indigenous versus modern knowledge, often ignores the possibility of hybridised knowledge, a continuous and complicated everyday process whereby various forms of knowledge blend in space and time. This paper, therefore, argues that the existence of dichotomous and distinct forms of knowledge is a mirage. Rather, what may be termed indigenous is a co-produced knowledge by multiple actors and agents, having evolved through rigorous negotiations, legitimisation and politico-economic contestations. We make this point by analysing the bricolage processes of alteration and aggregation between ideologies perceived to be rooted in African indigenous knowledge systems, and modern, colonially rooted religious ideologies in a Ghanaian mining village. The paper highlights the importance of context in these discussions. We conclude that particularly in rapidly shifting socio-economic, political and cultural landscapes, indigenous knowledge as a distinct body of applicable knowledge remains contestable and complex and therefore solicits for intentional dissection and detangling, especially within development practice.