Abstract
This paper presents an assessment of the extent and conditions under which private financing can be a realistic approach for sanitation in slums. It is based on a cross-sectional study comparing two slum communities in East Africa, where 250 households from Bwaise III in Kampala, Uganda and 379 households from Temeke in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were interviewed in 2010. Also, 10 key-informant interviews and 8 focus group discussions were conducted in addition to field observations. Findings show that majority (85%) of households used unimproved, private-shared pit latrines. These privately owned latrines had many structural shortfalls besides poor operation and maintenance while the public latrines provided by third-party were structurally sound but were under-utilized in residential slum neighorhoods. This is attributed to the presence free or at least cheaper alternatives which the community members preferred instead of paying per-visit user-fees. For the few who were willing to pay, willingness to pay was positively associated with the presence of a facility User committee and having been sensitized. In this context, a combination of these factors made cost recovery as well as operation and maintenance very minimal. The poor status of privately owned shared pit latrines matched the limited income levels of households. Similarly, cost recovery for public facilities was dependent on the number of users who were willing to pay: the more the users, the more the cost recovery. A combination of private and public financing is thus necessary to fund different but complementary aspects of sanitation in slums.
Highlights
About 2.6 billion people globally have no access to improved sanitation and the resulting diarrhea kills at least 1.2 million children below five years annually [3]
Studies in Senegal, Mozambique, Bangladesh and Ecuador show that financing onsite sanitation for the poor is unsustainable unless the public sector continuously contributes or some form of external financing is provided [14]
This paper presents the extent to which and under what conditions private financing is a realistic approach for sanitation in slums
Summary
About 2.6 billion people globally have no access to improved sanitation and the resulting diarrhea kills at least 1.2 million children below five years annually [3]. The argument is that private financing for sanitation needs to be increased. In practice this financing approach may be subject to context specific obstacles such as limited incomes, peoples’ spending priorities, and existing social structure among other factors [7]. They endure many deprivations and are faced with various needs amid the sanitation situations they live in [12], and as a result, many may be unable or unwilling to invest in improving sanitation. This paper presents the extent to which and under what conditions private financing is a realistic approach for sanitation in slums. The analysis is based on two study areas in East Africa: Bwaise III in Kampala, Uganda and Temeke in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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