The Urbis program in Abidjan focused on increasing access to water as well as improving sanitation services in slums.
Empowering the Poor to Access a Government Water Subsidy through Advocacy and Capacity Building
The Urbis program in Cote d’Ivoire focused on amplifying the voice of Abidjan’s slum dwellers to increase their access to basic water services, thereby dramatically improving their quality of life.
At the program outset, a slum dweller in need of a water connection for his/her home faced two challenges. First, only one household per plot of land was eligible for a subsidized connection, a condition that most households did not meet given the high population density in slums. Second, the required administrative steps were time-consuming and confusing, yet slum dwellers tended to have neither spare time nor easy access to information. As a result, slum dwellers were not benefiting from a state subsidy that was intended for them. The Urbis program seized this untapped opportunity.
The Urbis model in Abidjan was two-fold: capacity building of slum dwellers was combined with improving their advocacy skills to increase access to potable water. With regards to capacity building, first, slum dwellers needed to be organized and informed. Thus the pro-poor non-governmental organization Comité Régional pour l'Eau Potable et l’Assainissement (Regional Center for Water Supply and Waste Management, or CREPA) organized slum dwellers and helped demystify the government subsidy. Second, utility managers needed to view all end users in their service area as valued customers. To this end, CREPA worked in collaboration with the utility to train slum dwellers on properly filling out the requisite paperwork to access the subsidy, how to use water efficiently, prevent and fix leaks, and how to save daily to pay water bills on time. Ultimately, the idea was to convert the members of these households into long-term clients of the water utility.
Urbis also supported CREPA in its efforts to organize the poor so that they, in turn, could influence the government’s water policy. CREPA was not alone in this effort; it entered into an alliance with the influential para-statal entity called the Bureau National d'Etudes Techniques et de Développement (National Bureau of Technical and Development Studies, or BNETD).
Results: During the three-year program, Urbis connected 59,094 slum dwellers (an estimated 8,442 poor households) to potable water networks, by providing the capacity building support they needed to tap the national water subsidy. Access to this water subsidy was critical because it reduced the cost of a water connection from USD 340 to USD 40.
An important aspect of the Urbis program's water activities in Abidjan was improving slum dwellers’ advocacy skills to increase their access to potable water. With support from BNETD, the Urbis team successfully convinced the government agency responsible for the subsidy at the launch of the Urbis program, the Department of Human Hydraulics, to remove the one-connection-per-plot-of-land restriction and to simplify the application process for Urbis beneficiaries. As a result, an additional 3,488 families (representing over 24,400 slum dwellers), who would have otherwise been excluded, were able to access and benefit from the water subsidy. Thanks to the Urbis team’s efforts, the government invested an impressive USD 1.5 million to connect slum dwellers to potable water services.
An independent assessment of Urbis’ water activities in Abidjan, conducted in September 2010, revealed that an estimated 97.5% of households connected through the program maintained their water service. This result was attributed to Urbis training for families on how to secure a long-term connection. In addition, the assessment showed that families who now benefit from a connection pay three to five times less for water than they used to when buying it from illegal re-sellers. Given the improved quality of piped potable water, almost half of the 400 families interviewed also reported a reduction in the incidence of water-related illnesses. The impact of bringing affordable, quality water to the homes of Abidjan’s poor was consequently felt at many levels, improving their health as well as their economic and social well-being.
Improving Sanitation Services in Abidjan’s Slums
Cote d’Ivoire’s rapid population growth rate and increasing urbanization intensified the government’s efforts to improve basic urban services for its population. The Urbis program focused on contributing to the state’s efforts to improve the quality of life in Abidjan’s slums. This was done by providing the Fédération des Précollecteurs et Prestataires de Services Urbains de Côte d'Ivoire (Federation of Solid Waste Pre-Collection, or FEPSUCI), a group of 3,600 slum dwellers, with training and technical assistance to amplify the voice of pre-collectors, enhance the quality of their services and increase their incomes and job stability.
At the start of the program, the government was hiring multi-national and Ivorian companies to collect household waste. These firms relied on the services of pre-collectors, such as FEPSUCI, to pick up trash in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, but did so without formally contracting them. FEPSUCI members claimed they were underpaid because of this arrangement, earning a seventh of what they could earn if they were contracted directly by sanitation authorities. In August 2008, after close to a year without any pay, FEPSUCI members went on strike. They demonstrated to raise awareness about the abusive relationship between slum-based pre-collectors and large sanitation firms, the absence of laws to regulate the sector and the lack of recognition for their services. But FEPSUCI’s informal status prevented its members from accessing formal contracting mechanisms set up by the state.
FEPSUCI’s coverage is impressive as it operates in 10 of Abidjan’s 13 communes, servicing over half of the city’s slum dwellers. Out of Abidjan’s 4.2 million inhabitants, an estimated 830,000 live in slums and benefit from the services of pre-collectors, who collect approximately 1,000 metric tons of refuse a day.
Given the government’s plans to restructure the national sanitation sector, the Urbis program was well-timed. Urbis built the capacity of FEPSUCI so that its members could compete for public solicitations. This entailed providing key members of each of FEPSUCI’s 32 cooperatives with the technical, organizational, legal and financial skills they needed to convert their informal organizations into ten slum-dweller owned businesses.
Furthermore, the Urbis team, which included the well-known para-statal entity Bureau National d'Etudes Techniques et de Développement (National Bureau of Technical and Development Studies, or BNETD), FEPSUCI and DIG, worked with city and government officials to help pre-collectors gain formal recognition and incorporate slum trash collection into public sanitation bids.
Results: Through Urbis, pre-collectors became aware of their essential waste collection role, which enhanced their ability to communicate with the government and bring about improvements for their members and clients, most of which are slum-dwellers. The Minister of the City and Sanitation and the President’s Advisor on Waste Management Issues reacted positively to their advocacy effort, publicly recognizing that the pre-collectors’ waste removal services were indispensable. This formal recognition was a step in paving the way for FEPSUCI to compete for market.
Through training and technical assistance in business administration, financial management, contract drafting, and resource mobilization, Urbis provided the managers of FEPSUCI’s cooperatives with the basic skills needed to legally register as businesses and manage those businesses effectively. By the end of the program, the informal trash collectors had successfully registered eight businesses. As of January 2011, three have bid on and been awarded municipal contracts to collect household waste and clean up streets and gutters in their respective communes (Marcory, Bingerville and Plateau). These contracts generated employment for 332 pre-collectors and US$ 271,840 in combined revenue. As a result, the living conditions of 70,684 slum dwellers serviced by these firms improved. The salaries of the waste collector managers also increased by 150% (from USD 195 to USD 485/month).
Urbis also trained FEPSUCI members in designing and implementing a pre-collection plan to improve their services. By professionalizing the services of FEPSUCI, the Urbis program not only ensured the delivery of more reliable sanitation services to poor households but also secured higher wages for thousands of pre-collectors.
Employee of the neighborhood association participating in the Urbis program proudly shows off hundreds of applications to access the government's water subsidy. To date, over 2,000 people have completed their applications.
Urbis Success Story: Bringing Potable Water to the Poor in Abidjan (PDF)
Urbis Success Story: Improving Sanitation Services in Abidjan’s Slums (PDF)
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