Community participation in municipal solid waste management: a case of Kium CBO, Morogoro, Tanzania

Abstract

Community participation (CP) in municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is a strategy introduced by UN Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP) in the early 1990s to developing countries. It aimed at complementing local governments‟ limited resources and capacities overwhelmed by rapid urbanization to managing solid waste sustainably. Tanzania adopted the strategy in 1992 under a market oriented economy starting with Dar es Salaam and then it was replicated to other urban areas of the country including Morogoro Municipality in 1998. This strategy has been received with different feelings and outcomes in Tanzania. In some situations, community participation through CBOs has failed to manage solid waste in their respective communities. This study identified Kikundi cha Usafi wa Mazingira (KIUM) CBO as a success story of community participation in municipal solid waste management project in Morogoro Municipality by achieving 50% of solid waste collection. The study employed the Institutional Economic Theory (IET) and Solid Waste Service Provision Linkage Triangle Model to the study‟s conceptual framework to analyse CP in municipal solid waste management using organizational, legal, resource, coordination, benefits and effective community participation variables in a market-oriented economy. Participatory Urban Appraisal (PUA) using Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) and researcher‟s in-depth interviews were employed to interview the CBO‟s leaders and community members in Mji Mkuu Ward where KIUM operates. The findings showed that a well organized CBO as KIUM with committed leadership which scored 50% in self-managing MSW service provision has the potentiality of achieving sustainable MSWM; if such poor communities-based groups are adequately given an enabling environment. The local government has not given enough encouragement to CBOs towards achieving sustainable municipal solid waste management.