Participation and partnerships in sanitation imporvement in informal housing areas

Informal housing settlements provide shelter to the majority of urban poor in Tanzania. However, most of the informal settlements are characterized by among others, lack of or inadequate basic services like roads and drainage, uncollected solid and liquid waste and drinking water and sanitary facilities. Buguruni Mnyamani is predominantly a low-income housing area and one of the oldest informal settlements in Dar es Salaam. Most households use pit latrines, which are poorly maintained. Recent research findings on malnutrition and other indicators of poverty have categorized Buguruni as one among the settlements with worst living conditions in Dar es Salaam City. In order to address the needs of the residents, a partnership arrangement was forged, in the 1990s, between the community and Plan Tanzania, an international Non-Governmental Organization to build capacity of the local community in order to improve some of the services starting with sanitation. A local community based organization known as CHAMABUMA was also formed to spearhead the improvement of basic infrastructure and community facilities in the area that includes education and health facilities, roads and drainage, and water and sanitation. The challenge was how to improve access of the poor to better sanitation services through the introduction of ventilated improved pit latrines, and to enhance the capacity and management capabilities of local communities. This paper, therefore, presents an analysis of the progressive improvement model of sanitation in Buguruni informal housing area. Its objective is to show how community participation through partnership arrangements and collective action could lead to capacity building spearheaded by Non-Governmental Organisations. Journal of Building and Land Development Vol. 13 (2) 2006: pp. 49-6