Evaluation of Sanitation Improvement Projects in Unplanned Settlements

In developing countries, high population growth rates in urban areas coupled with inadequate government coping strategies led to an increase in the formation of unplanned settlements associated with inadequate social and technical infrastructure. The social infrastructure includes education, health, security, etc. while technical infrastructure includes roads, drainage systems, electricity, telecommunication, water and sanitation. Unplanned settlements, most of the times informally occupied, lack such infrastructure or when present is inadequate due to lack of space for facility location. Sanitation, one of the components of infrastructure seems to be inadequate and if provided is poor. In areas where water table is high this results into frequent emptying of toilets. This situation is made worse due to financial and spatial constraints faced by most of the people living in these settlements. Previous sanitation researches done on the availability of toilets in various areas in the city of Dar es Salaam, particularly in Zamcargo settlement, show that many households were living without latrines, or two to three households were sharing one. This has been one of the sources of diseases such as cholera, typhoid, diarrhea and dysentery. The same researches reported that most of the residents of these areas lack sanitation education or cannot afford the construction of improved latrines. To address this problem, a project on construction of ecological sanitation toilets (ECOSAN toilets) for demonstration was initiated and implemented at Zamcargo settlement and financed by Water-Aid-Tanzania (an NGO). This paper, therefore, presents an evaluation of the impacts of ECOSAN toilet project to the Zamcargo community in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Through observations in the field and discussions with beneficiaries it became obvious that improved sanitation led to significant and tangible impacts in their lives. It was noted also that water from wells, which was the only source of water in the area, has not been contaminated anymore.