Bamato Environmental and Sanitation Project

Bamato Environmental and Sanitation Project, BESAP, is a community based development organization based within Nyalenda informal settlement of Kisumu city. The organization was initiated upon a firm belief in the ability of the most vulnerable communities to participate and contribute meaningfully to bring about desirable change in their settlements and communities. Having been moved by the dilapidated status of environment and deteriorated health situation within Nyalenda information settlement, the organization was formed in 2000 with the main objective of empowering the urban poor/less fortunate towards curbing their socio-economic challenges. With an increase in technological skills in recycling, key activities of the organization has been mainly to provide recycling skills to the target group as an effective way of environmental management.
In an effort to help realize its objectives, the organization works in the following thematic areas: Solid waste management - Water and sanitation - HIV/AIDS - Gender mainstreaming - Governance
Why Bamato as a Name? 'BAMATO' is an acronym of three Kiswahili words (Baba, Mama, Toto) which means Baba (Father), Mama (Mother), Mtoto (Child) and thus the holistic way of approach in terms of managing the environmental and health related issues within the lake region. Since inception this approach has realized considerable impact on the community in achieving the set objectives

Project activities:
- Promoting recycling as a means of solid waste management
- Capacity Building on recycling skills using locally available resources
- Capacity building on best practices with regard to environmental protection
- Support initiation of income generating activities i.e. waste enterprise development through artifacts production etc
- Capacity building on behavior change and communication
- Coordinating public forums for discussion on issues related to sexuality, reproductive health and diseases with emphasis on HIV/AIDS pandemic
- Coordination of forums for discussions of issues related to gender mainstreaming
- Coordination of forums for discussion on governance issues among others
- Promoting groups savings and loaning models for economic empowerment

Volunteers' activities:
-  Prepare monthly work plan to capture specific activities with the help of the management of the institution 
- Awareness raising on environmental issues with specific focus on waste management 
- Prepare project papers and reports for submission to potential project partners, benefactors and donors 
- Submit Project Report to KVDA