The integrated sustainable waste management governance features in the reference cities
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KEY SHEET 16
THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION AND THE MODEL OF MICRO-FRANCHISING IN EAST AFRICA Alodia Ishengoma (International Labour Organization,Tanzania Office, Dar es Salaam,Tanzania)
One approach to address the need for jobs for the poor and better services is to involve the microprivate sector – small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), community-based organizations (CBOs), community-based enterprises (CBEs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the provision of municipal services. In East Africa, Dar es Salaam city authorities were the first to adopt this method for solid waste collection. The idea was conceived in 1992 with the support of the Global Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP), which started as the Sustainable Dar es Salaam Project (SDP), financially supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), or UNCHS (now UN-Habitat) providing the steering technical assistance. The decision to privatize solid waste management (SWM) services in Dar es Salaam was made not only against a background of the dismal performance in collection at less than 4 per cent, but privatization fitted well in the overall government policy, which sought to reduce the state’s involvement in the provision of services. Privatization of a franchise type was opted for and done gradually, undergoing significant changes in approaches, in part driven by rising costs and the behaviour of stakeholders. Prior to the first privatization that was implemented in September 1994, some donorfunded emergency clean-up campaigns were
conducted until August 1994, followed by piloting with only one contractor company, hired to provide collection services in ten city centre wards. In 1993, the city authorities enacted a refuse collection and disposal law, which also covered the same ten wards. However, this system underperformed. The situation deteriorated to the extent that in June 1996 the government decided to dissolve the then Dar es Salaam City Council (DCCl) and put in place the Dar es Salaam City Commission (DCCn) to address the problem of solid waste. Immediately, five companies were contracted to provide service to 24 wards. Collection increased to 20 per cent by 1997. Together with the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNCHS (Habitat), through their SDP, the DCCn, developed a strategy for increased privatization to cover the whole city. Conducted in August 1998, increased privatization attracted some 70 franchisees, most of which started operating by January
CBO members using simple working tools to transfer collected waste to the communal container, Dar es Salaam,Tanzania © Alodia Ishengoma