Asivikelane hosted a Sustainable Informal Settlement Infrastructure Summit, aimed at improving repairs and maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure in informal settlements. The summit brought together a diverse range of stakeholders to foster partnerships and explore innovative solutions for dignified, sustainable access to essential basic services. We’ve documented these solutions in a multi-pronged strategy, demonstrating how to build sustainable infrastructure through community-driven solutions.

Asivikelane’s community-based model for repairs and maintenance ensures that informal settlement residents are central to fixing communal infrastructure. The main idea is to train residents as plumbers so they can fix broken communal taps and toilets within their own communities. This paper outlines how this model can be replicated across municipalities.