HORIZON INTERNATIONAL SOLUTIONS SITE

In Bagadadji, one of the oldest areas of Bamako, Mali, a project entitled "Improved Cesspools" was designed and is carried out on the basic premise that the local population should be involved in managing their own environment. Cheick Amala Tabouré is successfully mobilizing residents of Bamako's poorer quarters to finance and install household septic tanks instead of continuing the unhygienic and dangerous practice of disposing of waste water in open pits along public streets.

Based on a careful survey of community domestic waste water — practices, needs and resources — Cheick Tabouré designed a low-cost improved household septic tank system, created a loan fund to enable households to afford it, and trained unemployed local youth to construct the tanks.

Problem Overview:

Sanitation and health problems engendered by urbanization

The urban centers of the Sahel are notoriously overcrowded after years of rapid migration from rural areas. As of 1995, Mali’s largest city, Bamako, for example, had almost a million inhabitants living on a crumbling colonial era physical infrastructure designed to accommodate 100,000 people. The government has not been able to afford to operate, let alone modernize, the physical infrastructure of older areas, and there is not even an effort to plan or provide infrastructure for new settlements, which spring up spontaneously all the time. A 1984 sewerage initiative by the Bamako municipal government, for example, collapsed for want of finance.

The sanitation and health problems that are engendered by this pattern of urbanization are significant. Estimates put the daily growth of domestic waste in Bamako, for example, at 260,000 cubic meters per year. Informal practices in dealing with this waste — use of a shallow open hole dug in the street next to the home — lead to stagnant pools, where waste water and domestic garbage mix and become foul-smelling breeding grounds for insect larva. Piles of garbage often hinder circulation of vehicles and pedestrians. These conditions are considered a major factor linked to the propagation of typhoid fever, dysentery, malaria, hepatitis, bilharzia and guinea-worm. On any given day one can see children playing next to these little pools. Indeed in Bagadadji, any resident can point out the spot where a small child fell into one such pool and drowned.

Faced with these burgeoning problems, the government is not objecting to those seeking to develop local, private solutions to resolve their sanitation and health problems. Such initiatives must overcome the popular expectation that it is the government's duty to provide these facilities, although increasingly residents recognize the lack of realism in this expectation.

Cheick writes that "Drainage of domestic used water directly onto the street and stagnating used water in open ditches at the side of streets constituted a constant trial for the inhabitants of the most populous areas of Bamako. The results of a survey I carried out clearly showed that the source of this unhealthy situation was the absence of septic tanks in family compounds."

Note:

Scientific Review of this project is currently underway

Background:

In Bagadadji, one of the oldest areas of Bamako, Mali, a project entitled "Improved Cesspools" was designed and is carried out on the basic premise that the local population should be involved in managing their own environment. Cheick Amala Tabouré is successfully mobilizing residents of Bamako's poorer quarters to finance and install household septic tanks instead of continuing the unhygienic and dangerous practice of disposing of waste water in open pits along public streets.

Based on a careful survey of community domestic waste water — practices, needs and resources — Cheick Tabouré designed a low-cost improved household septic tank system, created a loan fund to enable households to afford it, and trained unemployed local youth to construct the tanks.

Cheick's pilot was undertaken in his own community in the Bagadadji quarter of Bamako. He began with a detailed survey of current practices, needs, and resources with respect to domestic waste water. One finding was that household septic tanks would have to accommodate usage ranging from 15 to 60 persons, far greater than public planning had previously anticipated. He then designed an improved septic tank in line with this finding. The improved septic tank consists of a pit covered with concrete slabs at the base of which porous materials are spread. Beside the tank a "man-hole" is constructed to filter incoming water for stones, slivers of wood, grease and other impurities, leaving the filtered water to flow into the septic tank. The tank is generally constructed four meters deep in order to preserve the water table.

"After giving the matter careful thought, I decided to aim to provide each family with an improved cesspool for its run-off used water. The problem was to identify appropriate action and how to achieve it in a community with some of the lowest income in the continent."

The first step in Cheick's strategy involved demonstrating the benefits of his septic tanks in one controlled pilot project involving thirty households. This was a highly successful pilot demonstration in one of Bamako's most crowded neighborhoods. Cheick then concentrated on consolidating an organizational base to service planned expansion.

"I drew up survey forms which were distributed to a hundred heads of families. The result of this survey was that all those involved in it agreed unanimously that it was necessary to have cesspools in their compounds. For a time I was obliged to limit my objective to meet my own family's daily needs. During this period, I talked with various acquaintances about my aims and by doing so I had the idea of building cesspools to be repaid in installments. I presented this idea to potential donor agencies. I was beginning to entertain hopes for the project when my house took fire, and all my belongings (clothing, documents, etc.) were burned. This was in December 1993.

In February 1994, I received a small grant from an American NGO, World Education. With this small grant, I built the first improved cesspool. Several heads of families asked for similar work in their compounds. The action was seen to be effective. The solution to the problem had been found. Newspapers reported on the activity. My dream had become a possibility."

By 1995, he was already inundated with requests from other quarters in Bamako to provide septic tank construction.

"To give a solid basis to the project, I opted for a cultural basis, encouraging the creation of a committee of wise men, including well-known Bagadadgi personalities and respected persons capable of defending the project and of mobilizing the local population."

In the early days of the project Cheick went from door-to-door, speaking with family heads, local leaders, and other members of the community to raise awareness about sanitation and health problems and to advocate his solution. He succeeded in recruiting a group of neighbors who became the first pilot families, as well as creating an interested audience of the entire quarter.

As the pilot project unfolded, Cheick simultaneously established the Association for the Rehabilitation of the Environment in Mali as the organization supporting the program. All community meetings are arranged under the auspices of the Association. Those putting in septic tanks become local chapter members of the Association and are encouraged to participate in all of the decision-making relating to the Association's work in their community.

To undertake the work of constructing the tanks, Cheick recruited and trained a group of local unemployed youth. (Youth unemployment in 1995 was running at around 70 percent in Bamako.) The youth produced the first 30 tanks to higher standards and at less than half the cost of the current government prototype, and even at a lower cost than those provided by the private sector.

To finance the process, Cheick designed an affordable financing scheme that is reinforced by peer monitoring. The Association has the responsibility for managing the loan fund. Even in its early stages the fund was successful. In 1995, 75 percent of the total original loans were repaid without a single default! Repayment of the loans is scheduled in monthly installments (usually about ten) according to the repayment capacity of the household involved. These funds are then used as credit to help finance the construction of septic tanks for other families in the community. Cheick raised an initial grant to capitalize the loan fund.

Cheick has two models of tank, one for smaller households (up to 15 users) at $85, and those tailored for 30 users at $124.

The youth construction teams are also Association stakeholders with co-responsibility for the governance of the local chapter. The local chapters designate their physical boundaries and actively seek to draw all households within the chapter boundaries.

To foster the Association's wider environmental cleanliness and health protection message, Cheick works with two community organizers in each chapter, one of whom is a trained nurse. The nurse promotes understanding of hygiene, the use and upkeep of the septic tank, and undertakes other public education work.

While this component of the program continues to evolve, sensitization efforts to date have included discussions and debates on hygiene and public cleanliness. Plans exist for the female organizer to extend training on family hygiene and mother-and-child health sessions at the local clinic on Mondays, when pregnant women attend and others bring their children for treatment.

Cheick derives much satisfaction from the support that he has gained from his community. He presents his neighbors with a human face in their search for solutions to pressing public hygiene problems. People are very encouraging and actively seek him out. He comments, "I walk with pride in the neighborhood now because people admire me." One neighbor who had thought Cheick was a fool in the early days told him, "I really congratulate your courage."

The Person Behind the Project

From a humble rural background, Cheick Amala Tabouré was influenced greatly as a child by a role model whom he admired immensely, a man who brought him up following the death of his own father. Although Cheick maintained good marks at school, he was forced to leave early to support his family. In seeking means to do this, Cheick took several jobs, including working as a postman, and becoming a taxi driver. He also ventured into Libya to seek his fortune, working on several projects, including one assisting on a major film set in the desert.

As a socio-economic agent, Cheick is constantly investigating problems and is described as someone who is always inquisitive, loves debates and discussions about community problems, but also openly accepts criticism and is willing to take risks. Strikingly noticeable is the great humility he displays. He is a person who has with little achieved a great deal. This is particularly evident in the battles he has waged over the last three years to get his program going and overcome the doubters' taunts. Cheick persevered when his house and all his possessions and documents were destroyed in a fire in 1993. He gave up his own small business as a building contractor in order to pursue his dream for the Association.

Implementation:

The visible improvements to street life in the pilot area are so dramatic that everyone who sees it wants Cheick to come to his or her neighborhood next. Cheick is now beginning to respond to these requests from other quarters in Bamako, and hopes to expand the Association's capacity to be able to move beyond Bamako in the near future. He is also deepening the program with his current members by developing a service to clean the tanks and to improve household latrines.

"Several communities in the town, and in other urban areas, have adopted the idea. National and international organizations have visited the project. They include AFRICARE Conakry, and CREPA, an ONG [non-government organization] from Congo. I have been to present the project in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and have been asked to discuss it with the German aid agency, GTZ. Several Malian NGOs and GIEs (Economic Interest Groups) have used the idea for their activities. In January, 1997, I signed an agreement with the French Aid Agency (AFD) for the construction of 500 cesspools in Commune II of Bamako. To arrive at these results, I set up an association with friends, called AREM (Association to Rehabilitate the Environment in Mali). More than 100,000 persons are now concerned by the project."

"This success has above all been due to support from ASHOKA which enabled me to work full-time on the project to reach my objective, the improvement of living conditions in heavily populated urban zones."

Follow-up:

He aims to expand to similar cities throughout the Sahel. Planned programmatic expansion is of two types. First, he expects to develop related products for households with septic tanks, such as tank cleaning services and latrine improvements. Perhaps most significantly, he will undertake more health and environmental education activities with families putting in septic tanks. For example, he would like to build on current activities such as community debates on hygiene and public cleanliness with information services to mothers on pre-natal and neo-natal health care.

Cheick dreams of every urban household in Mali having a septic tank and a sticker on the door saying "Let Us Protect Our Environment." He envisions a future in which the streets of the city of Bamako are free of waste water, garbage is collected and carried away, and malaria and dysentery are eliminated.

Web Links:

Submitted by:

Cheick Amala Taboure; Ashoka

Changemakers site: http://www.changemakers.net/

Information Date: 1998-06-25
Information Source: Cheick Amala Taboure; Ashoka