ILO, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2001)

In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, a gradual shift of the local administration took place by the end of the nineties. During that shift also the role of the private sector in the provision of urban services grew such as in solid waste management. Besides the large(r) firms that were interested in the commercial running of a cleansing service several other 'informal' groups took local initiatives too in e.g. road maintenance, water tap monitoring and waste collection. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) was asked by UNHabitat to develop a support programme for these groups. ILO asked WASTE to develop work plans and practical guidelines to strengthen these CBO's and MSEs in their new role. A survey was made of the major material flows in the city, actors, were mapped, interviews held and several workshops organised to create co-operation, to develop a business insight and to show the potential of the waste recycling sector. ILO built upon this initial advice a strong and growing small scale waste collecting sector. This project was succeeded by the UNIDO Recycling Centre project in October 2001.