By Eddah Waithaka
Fresh Life Sanitation Services Ltd and Atoo Kakuma Usafi Company Ltd have signed a long-term Distributorship Agreement that expands sustainable, market-led sanitation solutions across Turkana County.
The deal brings clean, water-efficient toilets to Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, and surrounding host communities.
The partnership agreement between Fresh Life and Atoo Kakuma, facilitated by Swisscontact, establishes a commercially viable framework for expanding climate-resilient sanitation services across Turkana County.
The partnership will scale access to pay-for-use Urine Diversion Dry Toilets in public spaces and high-density settlements, while strengthening a locally rooted enterprise to deliver and sustain services in integrated refugee and host communities.
By embedding sanitation within a market system under Swisscontact’s stewardship, the collaboration creates jobs across installation, servicing, waste transport, and sales, while enabling safe waste management through circular economy models that convert waste into value.
Importantly, the agreement secures continuity of sanitation services beyond donor-funded projects, positioning sanitation as a long-term, locally driven business rather than a temporary intervention.
Catalysed through Swisscontact’s Climate Proofing WASH Services (CP WASH) Project, the agreement represents a business-to-business partnership anchored in commercial viability, local entrepreneurship, and sustainable service delivery well beyond donor financing.
This agreement marks a critical step toward embedding sanitation as a functioning local market, rather than a parallel humanitarian service.
Swisscontact enables the agreement, which formally appoints Atoo Kakuma as a non-exclusive distributor of Fresh Life’s Urine Diversion Dry Toilets (UDDTs). These climate-resilient units work perfectly in arid and semi-arid regions, no water, no sewers, no problem.
Kenya’s Shirika Plan provides the national backdrop, championing refugee inclusion, self-reliance, and private-sector-led service delivery.
The partnership originated through Swisscontact’s Climate Proofing WASH Services (CP WASH) Project, implemented with Plan International Kenya, Watermission, and APAD.
But this is no short-term aid project. It is a private-sector-led solution designed to operate as a sustainable local market that continues well beyond donor-funded cycles.
“What began as an ambition to introduce a private-sector-led sanitation model in Kakuma has now evolved into a proof point that sustainable, market-driven solutions can work in fragile and refugee-hosting contexts,” says Jimmy Delyon, Team Lead at Swisscontact.
“This agreement demonstrates that sanitation can move beyond short-term humanitarian delivery to become a viable local business that addresses public health, dignity, and economic inclusion at scale.”
One Public Toilet for Thousands
Turkana West Sub-County has suffered a prolonged sanitation crisis. Until recently, the area had only one public toilet serving thousands of people—a dangerous reality that risked widespread open defecation, disease outbreaks, and loss of human dignity.
The Fresh Life-Atoo partnership attacks this challenge directly. The two companies expand pay-for-use UDDTs across public spaces and high-density areas while strengthening a local enterprise to manage and sustain the services.
“This partnership marks a defining milestone in Atoo’s evolution from a community-based youth initiative into a professionally run sanitation enterprise,” says Moses Eyaran, CEO of Atoo Kakuma Usafi Company Ltd.
“We began at a very small scale, and through Swisscontact’s support, our potential was recognised and strengthened, opening the door to a commercial partnership with Fresh Life that validates local enterprise in refugee-hosting contexts.”
He adds, “Through this collaboration, we have built critical operational capacity—particularly in logistics, coordination, waste collection, and sanitation centre management. These capabilities position us to deliver services more efficiently, expand our reach, and scale a locally led sanitation business that can operate sustainably over the long term in Kakuma and beyond.”
The partnership delivers more than toilets, it drives economic growth. Since the CP WASH initiative began less than a year ago, 57 UDDTs have already been installed across Kakuma town.
The numbers tell a powerful story, 37 local entrepreneurs now work in installation, servicing, management, and waste transport; 45 young people earn wages in briquette production and marketing; and more than 200 women generate income by supplying Mathenge (Prosopis) biomass for briquette production. Waste from the UDDTs then travels via the Kalobeyei Water and Sanitation Company (Kalwasco) to Sanivation Ltd, where the company treats and converts it into eco-friendly fuel briquettes.
This structured circular economy delivers environmental benefits and economic returns simultaneously.
The partnership demonstrates how sanitation solutions can thrive in contexts without conventional sewer infrastructure.
“As we expand, we have to recognise that many areas in Kenya do not have sewer lines,” says Angela Nzioki, Head of Strategy at Fresh Life.
“This partnership allows us to replicate the Fresh Life model in such contexts while supporting a strong local enterprise. There are many lessons that can be applied in Kakuma, and we are committed to supporting Atoo as the team continues to grow.”
By embedding sanitation within a commercially viable market system, the Fresh Life-Atoo partnership shows how refugee-hosting regions can transition from humanitarian-led WASH services to sustainable private-sector delivery models.
The agreement offers a replicable blueprint for other arid and refugee-hosting counties across Kenya, directly supporting national goals on inclusion, climate resilience, and economic self-reliance.
