Integrated support for a sustainable urban environment, Arusha, Tanzania

The Integrated Support for a Sustainable Urban Environment (ISSUE - 2) project is presently in the implementation stage in the unplanned settlements of Lemara, Sokoni I and Daraja 2 in Arusha Municipality referred as a “District” in Tanzania. The project focuses on human excreta and solid waste management. The target is to support practical implementation in an average of 5.000 households. The project is funded by WASTE of the Netherlands through the local partner, Environmental Engineering and Pollution Control Organization (EEPCO). The project involves range of stakeholders, with focus on “providers” (stakeholders earning their livelihoods in sanitation) and “users or clients” (usually households, institutions, local government authorities). Another group includes local private operators, Non-Governmental Organizations, Community Based Organization and financial institutions, working directly with providers or users, or both. The project is aiming to ‘Empower’, and ‘Supporting’ stakeholders. ‘Empowering’ refers to activities related to the processes of capacity and confidence building or creating conditions where the stakeholders can take the lead (the stakeholders themselves have to make the changes they identify). ‘Supporting’ means helping to mobilize the necessary resources, finance, knowledge, institutional structures/capacities, and the like, to make changes possible. The project started in July 2007 by an inception phase in which the stakeholders were identified and a District Consortium (DICO) formed. The DICO has developed a Consortium Multi-annual Plan (CMAP) for a3-year implementation period (2008–2010). Other activities Inception Phase activities included; - Baseline survey, Financial arrangements, preparation of DICO’s Memorandum of Understanding (with roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder), preparation of monitoring tool and sanitation options, and training to stakeholders. The stakeholders believe that partnership in urban sanitation can make significant contributions to sanitation improvements in urban environments. This paper analyses the project from Inception to Implementation stage. It covers the formation of stakeholders’ partnership, the innovations, its successes, challenges, conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations for proper implementation of human excreta and solid waste management for the urban poor.

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