Draft case study on the relationship between small scale entrepreneurs (pit emptiers) and ONAS (public provider) in Dakar, Senegal. Recent work suggests that the local private sector is predominant supplier of basic sanitation in the developing world. In April 2009 BPD convened a multi-disciplinary roundtable to discuss how the private sector provides sanitation and whether their efforts can be better harnessed to serve a development agenda. The focus was very much on what sanitation entrepreneurs are doing in the field and how practically to engage them. Thirty professionals from differing sectors – from sanitation engineers to health specialists, from Malawian entrepreneurs to financial leaders- debated the role that entrepreneurs currently play, how to support them and what opportunities the sanitation sector may currently be missing. Dakar provided an interesting opportunity for these discussions to focus on a nascent partnership that exists between a range of entrepreneurs and a government agency. Much of this is based around a proposed licensing system for vacuum trucks – the trucks are currently run by a range of formal and informal small and medium enterprises. These negotiations build on a large donor-supported programme to expand access to sanitation for poorer households in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. This case study was written based on data collected in December 2008 – January 2009 for a MSc thesis in Water Services Management, entitled “Partnerships between authorities and small scale providers of sanitation: Case studies in Dakar and Dar es Salaam”, supervised by M. Schwartz and M. Valfrey-Visser and financed by UNESCO-IHE, Hydroconseil and BPD. At the end is a list of those interviewed during the fieldwork.

Bibliographic information

Bereziat, E. (2009). The market for mechanical pit-emptying in Dakar & the realities of engaging entrepreneurs Building Partnerships for Development (BPD), UK

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Faecal sludge treatment processesCase studies in other formatsEnglish

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Senegal

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