This document contains an analytical synthesis of three case studies on Southern urban waste management projects in Mali, Senegal and Kenya.

(1) - Household Waste Management with the 'Bokk Jom' Federation. Medina Fall area (city of Thies, Senegal)

Medina Fall area is situated at about 3 km of Thies city center. Medina Fall's inhabitants face social, economical and environmental problems such as poverty increase, lack of employment for the young, flooding refuse dump/public roads' insalubrity, and deficiency of social infrastructures. In order to take up these challenges, Medina Fall's inhabitants have organized themselves individually or collectively.

(2) : 'Green City Movement of Malindi' (Kenya). Bilateral project between the Kenyan and Dutch governments

Malindi is an ancient city located on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Malindi includes four popular areas which lack sanitation and deal with puddles, wastes and feaces which spread in the streets. This situation contributes for instance to the reproduction of mosquitoes, vehicles for malaria, cholera...

Tourism employs more than half of the population of Malindi. The lack of sanitation and regular waste collecting is the cause of a decrease in tourism in the Municipality.

The selected actions which were implemented are as follow :

- increase public awareness on environmental protection,

- introduce the concept of an urban planning integrated to an environmental approach,

- list attainments on which the selected goals of the project will be based upon,

- promote cooperation between all actors concerned with sanitation issues by creating 'headquarters for the environment'.

The analysis of the three case-studies draws the following conclusion :

1. Educational and information programs increase the population's participation rate and the profits made on collected and recycled materials.

2. National administrations can promote selective waste collecting and recycling systems via a national public sanitation policy; actions linked with environmental improvement; specific interventions destined to motivate and support community groups, which have shown a great potential for improving the local population's way of life.

3. Community groups can take the waste collecting process in charge, when they are supported by local and national administration and coherently organized. The total collecting cost can be appreciably reduced if this stage management is left to community groups who use a cheap or gratuitous labor.

4. Furthermore, decentralization stands as the only determining element, eventhough many national and even local authorities refuse to delegate their powers, for financial and political reasons.

The urban waste issue has the advantage and disadvantage to appear as a common problem, which can be daily seen by anyone and to which everybody has a simple solution to offer. However, despite all stands that were taken in all three cases concerning salubrity, the problem is far from being totally solved !

The various component parts of the relationships between partners in waste management (whether NGOs, municipalities, decentralized ministerial services, or community organizations), are closely interdependent. Thus, any change occurring in one component necessarily has consequences on the other.

In consequence, the following recommendations can be made :

1 - Train and inform

2 - Create the proper conditions for developing relevant projects

3 - Finance relevant local initiatives

4 - Build a sound local partnership