The Politics and Urban Governance (PUG) Research Group has been part of an international consortium working on a global comparative study called ‘Scaling Up Off-Grid Sanitation’ (SOS). The SOS project focuses on container-based sanitation (CBS) as an emerging off-grid sanitation option across four city contexts: Cap Haitian (Haiti), Lima (Peru), Cape Town (South Africa) and Nairobi (Kenya). Our research seeks to understand whether residents experience CBS as a dignified form of sanitation and how off-grid services are governed.
As part of this study we have conducted research with residents from BM Section informal settlement in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, using the PhotoVoice method. We have been working closely and partnering with residents in BM section since 2020. This is a photo essay of photographs taken by 13 participants showing their sanitation experiences. PhotoVoice is a form of participatory visual research whereby research participants are involved in coming up with the research questions, data collection and analysis, and the dissemination of the findings.
