Seminar on City-wide Sanitation Planning takes place in Dar es Salaam

Top city planners and water and sanitation experts share and discuss their experiences in India and Tanzania Dar es Salaam – What are success factors of city-wide sanitation planning in fast growing cities such as Dar es Salaam? On the 8th and 9th of November, top city planners and water and sanitation experts from the public and private sector met to share and discuss their expertise and experiences.

first day of the seminar, participant following the presentation

The event, themed “Seminar on City-wide Sanitation Planning”, took place at the Alliance Francaise in Dar es Salaam. It was organized by BORDA, Tanzania (Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association) in collaboration with CDD, India (Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society).

“The aim of the seminar was to facilitate knowledge transfer by discussing lessons learnt and experiences gained during the implementation of city-wide sanitation planning projects in Tanzania and India”, explains Andreas Schmidt, Regional Coordinator at BORDA Tanzania. “We also discussed specific sanitation challenges and training needs for Dar es Salaam”.

The meeting on the 8th of November featured various presentations covering topics such as the methodology of city-wide sanitation planning and case studies from South East Asian countries. Presentations were given by representatives of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development; Dar es Salaam City Council; GIZ; EEPCO; UN Habitat; ICLEI; CDD and DAWASA. More than 70 participants from seven countries attended the meeting and contributed their expertise.

On the second day, the 9th of November, the experts met for a workshop on the methodology of sanitation planning prepared by CDD. This facilitated a focused discussion on Dar es Salaam specific sanitation challenges and training needs with regard to local sanitation planning and implementation.

The experience of BORDA and CDD has shown that dialogue and coordination between all experts are essential for projects on urban water and sanitation provision. Sustainable sanitation provision can only be achieved if all city and development aspects are known and taken into account. The seminar thus provided an excellent opportunity to facilitate this vital knowledge exchange between a variety of different sector stakeholders.