Our first community baraza wasn't a launch event or a formal announcement — it was closer to a conversation, held in the open, where residents could ask hard questions about a new collection service before deciding whether to trust it. Looking back, it set a tone for how we've tried to operate ever since: openly, and with residents' scepticism treated as legitimate rather than something to talk around.
Why we started with a baraza rather than a pamphlet
A baraza — a public community gathering, deeply rooted in how local decisions and information are shared across Kenya — felt like the right starting point for a genuinely new kind of service. Waste collection promises in areas without reliable existing infrastructure are, understandably, viewed with some caution; residents have heard "someone will come collect your rubbish" before, sometimes from initiatives that didn't last. A baraza allowed for something a flyer or a door-to-door pitch couldn't: direct, public questioning, where scepticism could be voiced openly and answered in front of the whole gathering, not managed one household at a time.
What residents actually asked
The questions were direct and, in hindsight, entirely reasonable. Would collection actually happen on the days promised, or fade after a few weeks like informal arrangements often had before? What would the fee actually be used for, and who would be accountable for it? Why should segregation matter to an individual household when the visible benefit wasn't obvious yet? These weren't hostile questions — they were the questions of people who had reasonable grounds to be cautious about a new promise, and answering them honestly, including admitting what we didn't yet have fully figured out, mattered more than presenting a polished pitch.
What we committed to, and what we said we didn't know yet
We were explicit that the collection schedule and fee structure would be published and consistent, not adjusted informally household by household. We were equally explicit that we didn't yet know exactly how quickly the route could expand beyond the first two villages, or exactly how buy-back pricing would settle once we had real volume to work with. That honesty, rather than overpromising a fully worked-out system from day one, seemed to matter to the residents in that first baraza more than a confident but vague pitch would have.
What changed because of that first conversation
Several concrete decisions trace directly back to feedback from that baraza. The fixed weekly collection day structure, rather than an irregular "we'll come when we can" schedule, came directly from residents saying predictability mattered more to them than frequency. The decision to publish fee rates rather than negotiate them informally also came from that first gathering, where several residents specifically flagged past experiences with inconsistent, negotiated pricing from other informal services as a reason for hesitation.
Why we've kept holding barazas since
That first gathering wasn't a one-off. We've held similar community conversations as the route expanded into new villages, treating each one as a genuine opportunity to hear concerns before rolling out collection, rather than a formality to get through on the way to a decision already made. It's slower than simply announcing an expansion and hoping households adjust, but it's produced a route that residents have generally trusted from the outset in each new area, rather than one they had to be gradually convinced of after the fact.
What this reflects about how we operate
The baraza model reflects something central to how Kasarani Waste Solution has tried to operate throughout: decisions shaped by direct community input rather than made in isolation and delivered as a finished plan. It's a slower, sometimes messier way to build a waste management system than simply designing one and rolling it out, but it's produced a system that residents actually use and trust, which is the only kind that ultimately works.
What surprised us most about that first gathering
Going in, we expected the hardest questions to be about cost. In practice, the questions residents pressed hardest on were about consistency and accountability — whether collection would actually keep happening reliably, and who would be answerable if it didn't. That shifted how we framed everything afterward, prioritising visible, dependable follow-through over persuasive messaging, since it became clear that trust would be earned through consistent delivery, not through how convincingly we could describe the plan at a single meeting.
How this shaped our approach to written communication too
The directness that first baraza taught us extended beyond in-person meetings into how we communicate more broadly — our published fee rates, our willingness to name what hasn't gone perfectly in updates like our annual numbers reflection, and even the plain, non-promotional tone we try to keep across our website all trace back to that early lesson that residents respond better to straightforward honesty than to a polished pitch.
What a resident who attended that first baraza remembers
Years later, several residents who attended still bring up small, specific details from that first gathering rather than a general impression — the exact wording of a promise about fee transparency, a particular question about what would happen if a collector fell ill and a round was missed. That level of specific recall, more than any formal feedback survey could have captured, told us how seriously the community was weighing whether to trust a new, unproven service with something as basic and necessary as their household waste.
Frequently asked questions
Do you still hold community meetings before expanding into new areas?
Yes. We hold a community conversation, in baraza format or a similar gathering, before establishing collection in any new village or estate.
Can residents raise concerns about the current route?
Yes, at any time, not only during initial baraza meetings. Our contact page is open for ongoing feedback, not just launch-stage input.
How does community feedback actually shape decisions?
Concretely — our fixed collection day structure and published fee rates both trace directly back to feedback from our first community baraza, not internal decisions made without resident input.
If your area is being considered for route expansion, expect a similar open conversation before anything is finalised. Follow updates on our blog.