Thinking through ALMOLIN: the community bio-centre approach in water and sewerage service provision in Nairobi's informal settlements

About 55% of Nairobi's population lives in informal settlements, which lie beyond the reach of municipal water and sewerage networks. As a coping mechanism, deprived communities in Nairobi's large informal settlements are increasingly devising new strategies, technologies, institutional frameworks and servicing models to satisfy their water needs, in the face of neglect by the state, private sector and conventional market suppliers. Through the lens of Alternative Model of Local Innovation, this paper interrogates the viability of community-led infrastructure provision exemplified by the bio-centre model as an alternative servicing model that also claims to promote bottom-linked governance and inclusive urban development policies. It examines whether such a model may contribute to the bridging of socio-spatial differences within and across informal settlements.