INVOLVEMENT OF COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATION IN HOUSEHOLD WASTE MANAGEMENT IN DAR ES SALAAM

From 1994 Dar es Salaam City Council decided to consider involving community in solid waste management (SWM) by supporting and promoting the establishment of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) that were interested in participating in solid waste collection activities. Although CBOs have been engaged in solid waste service provisioning, little systematic knowledge exists on the kind of activities they take up, assistance they get from local authorities and constraints, challenges they face in executing their work. This paper reviews the role of CBOs in solid waste management in Kinondoni municipality, in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. A triangulation method whereby information from the same sample area was collected using different techniques including household questionnaire survey, key informant interviews and direct observations were employed. The study has shown that CBOs were found to be involved in the provisioning of solid waste management services. Their services are, however, seriously hampered by infrastructure, policy, attitudinal and political challenges in implementing successful solid waste management services. Key words: Dar es Salaam, Kinondoni, household waste management, solid waste collection, Community based Organizations Historically, solid waste management (SWM) was the responsibility of cleansing unit of healt