Financing of sanitation services in the slums of Kampala and Dar es Salaam

John Bosco Isunju, Samuel Etajak, Beatrice Mwalwega, Richard Kimwaga, Peter Atekyereza, William Bazeyo, John C. Ssempebwa

1Disease Control and Environmental Health Department, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Department of Sociology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Department of Water Resources Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Disease Control and Environmental Health Department, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

DOI: 10.4236/health.2013.54104                

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.

Keywords

Slums; Sanitation; Public; Private; Financing Approaches

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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