Achieving sustained environmental health improvements in Freetown through fecal sludge management enterprises

Purpose

To improve the sanitary collection and transport of fecal sludge in Freetown, Sierra Leone, through a strengthened regulatory environment and public infrastructure, effective and efficient private service providers, and increased public awareness

Activities

This project was developed based on the results of Phase I (March 2014 to October 2014), which included but was not limited to a Willingness and Ability to Pay Survey, an initial capacity gap assessment of FSM across government and service providers, a review of current technologies and management systems for services providers and faecal sludge quantity calculations.

Phase II works together with Freetown City Council to create an enabling environment for the Private Sector to enter the sanitation value chain for collection and transport of faecal sludge. A Sanitation Unit will be established within the City Council to enforce an effectively regulated system which will include identifying opportunities for Service Level Agreements, advertising these and awarding performance based contracts to competent service providers. The Sanitation Unit will also contain a Contact Centre to act as the link between customers who need pit or septic tank emptying services and the service providers. The Contact Centre will be used not only to request pit and septic tank emptying services, but also to report on the quality of service received after a job has been completed or to report illegal dumping of faecal sludge. This will be used in conjunction with a monitoring and evaluation system to ensure the services are regulated, of high quality and are available across the city.

Countries of activity

Location of main activity

Objectives

1. Strengthened regulatory environment and improved public infrastructure for FSM
2. Strengthened private sector entities in collection and transport of faecal sludge
3. Increased community awareness, acceptance and use of appropriate FSM

Further information

Implementation partners:
Freetown City Council (FCC); Private Sector; WSUP (Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor) Advisory, Local consultancy firms

Filter tags

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Capacity development Cities Emptying and transport (non sewered) Enabling environment and institutional strengthening Faecal sludge treatment processes International NGO Market development Operation, maintenance and sustainable services Political processes and institutional aspects Practitioners Public awareness, advocacy and civil society engagement Specific to one or several countries Sub-Saharan Africa Treatment of faecal sludge UK government Urban (entire city)

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