Dar es Salaam Precedent Setting Water & Sanitation Project

Back To Projects
Focus Areas: Water & Sanitation

To date this project has involved two precedent setting components in Karatake, Keko Muchungwa, and Kombo settlements in Dar es Salaam. Precedents are aimed to be replicable allowing for scalability across the city. Project beneficiaries are both Federation and non-Federation members. The first precedent is the construction of new pour flush latrines (with water supply) for compounds. The Federation mobilises people in the settlements and a Federation team does the constructs. Latrines are shared per housing compound, serving 5 – 8 households, roughly 30 – 50 people. Each latrines costs USD 300 - USD 400 to construct. 21 are planned for construction (7 in each settlement) in Karataka and Keko Muchungwa. Depending on the housing compound, costs are negotiated between tenants and households, and the management systems set up by the community dictate the cleaning and water supply. Yet the question of who will bear the cost of construction and maintenance is a challenge. Ward councilors have helped with negotiations on this.  Groundwater infiltration also remains a challenge – historically a problem in these settlements with pit latrines.

The second precedent component of this project is the development of a gulper pump system. This is technology (a vacuum pump) to enable pit emptying. The Federation experimented and now have a pump running in Keko Muchungwa and are in the process of replicating this in other settlements.  This is an income generation venture as a fee is charged for the service and is less than what the council charges. The gulper pump can also access narrow lanes more easily. The Federation has an agreement with the municipality to take the waste to the municipal sewerage treatment plant. For scaling up to occur relationships with government need to be further improved and a sanitation fund must be set up at the municipal level. Yet enabling this a challenge for the project. To date a wash forum has been set up in Illala municipality in Dar es Salaam to engage government. 

The third precedent is a decentralized waste system. A feasibly study on this is underway in Karataka. 

Location: Karataka, Keko Muchungwa, and Kombo, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Contact Email Telephone
Tim Ndezi ccitanzania@gmail.com (+255) 22 270 1390
Project social media channels:


Project information updated: 27 June 2014

Project in depth

Detailed Information

This project falls under the Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity (SHARE) programme, which is a five-year initiative aiming to help achieve the Millennium Development goals of improving sanitation worldwide. This is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK and is supported by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  SDI is involved in a portion of this, addressing city-wide sanitation in cities in Africa.  SHARE projects in the SDI network occur in 4 core cities, Blantyre, Malawi; Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Kitwe, Zambia, with other cities being included after each year.  SHARE projects involve initial community-lead profiling and enumerations of settlements – establishing obstacles to achieving citywide sanitation as well as assessing needs, coverage, existing policies, infrastructure and government participation or lack thereof.  This in turn informs the various precedents that follow.
 
Project activity in Dar es Dalaam was started in 2013 by the Tanzanian Alliance of the Homeless Peoples' Federation of Tanzania and the Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI). Profiling for this project shows that there was 95% coverage of latrines in settlements yet many were dilapidated and in a poor condition. Latrines were full and infiltration of ground water was a problem. There was a clear need to replace old dilapidated latrines and address the dysfunctionality of sanitation facilities. Lanes in settlements are very narrow meaning pits were difficult to access for the council to empty. People live in low to medium density settlements in compounds sharing one toilet and rent land from landlords, which is often a tense relationship. It is difficult to motivate landlords to invest in sanitation and if they do rent may increase to cover the costs of provision. The Federation already had a presence in settlements targeted for the project, with an established solid waste management team in existence.  
 
This project is in the process of becoming sustainable. The process involves constant learning from precedents and exchanges in order to make progress. Efforts to draw in government are being done, which is key for sustainability. Wash forums like the one in Illala municipality are planned across Dar es Salaam. A budget line would help scale up. The Alliance is looking into communal toilets and decentralized waste treatment systems to capture more households, in order increase scale.  
 

Funding Information

Raised:

$84,156.00

Funding type:

Grant funding

Implementing Partners

Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity (SHARE)


Homeless Peoples' Federation of Tanzania


Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI)