Copyright © 1998 Panafrican News Agency. All Rights Reserved.
January 5, 1998
Felix 'Machi Njoku, PANA Correspondent
DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - What strikes a visitor to Thies, Senegal's
second largest city, some 70 km east of Dakar, is the untidy
surroundings of the immediate approach to this township of 200,000
people.
First, the visitor is welcomed by unsightly heaps of garbage on both
sides of the major entrance to the city. Then, a couple of metres into
the inner-city comes the glitter of earth roads and clean sand that
tail-off in small strings into hamlets and family houses.
The gate to each household has a green dust bin with an identification
number in black paint on the lid. The alleys are clean enough to scare
the usual swarm of flies one finds in such places at this time of the
year.
It was a kind of marvel for reporters who undertook a field trip to this
famous railway town, under the auspices of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) in mid-December. The cleanliness of the the
inner city was a sharp contrast to downtown Thies. When one of them
sought an explanation, the response was equally striking: because women
are in charge here.
The explanation given later was that the municipal council was
responsible for the up-keep of the areas littered with junk, while a
group of women systematically cleaned up the neighbourhood under a pilot
project assisted by UNDP.
How did this come about? For an answer, the journalists turned to Madam
Fatou Diakhate, leader of the Sanitation Committee of Lamy quarter, one
of three inner-city neighbourhoods where the project initiated in 1995
is being implemented.
Garbage was everywhere. Swarms of flies had literally taken over the
town, the matriarch told the interviewees in wolof, the national
language spoken by majority of Senegal's 8.6 million people. We were
worried over the frequent outbreaks of cholera, dysentery and other
diseases, which resulted in deaths. We knew filth was the problem and
decided to do something about it.
She said with an initial 50,000 U.S. dollars assistance from UNDP's LIFE
(Local Initiative Facility for the Urban Environment) project, each of
the committees bought two carts, two horses and provided tin dustbins
with lids to all 690 households involved in the project.
These went round the compounds every morning to empty the bins and
convey the garbage first to transit point and then later to a compost
processing dump on the outskirts of the city.
Every household pays 750 CfA francs (1.50 dollars a month) to sustain
the project, said Madame Yacne Fall, leader of the Diamaguene committee.
The processed garbage is used in plant nurseries on a 2.5-hectare land
on the outskirts of the city donated by the chief of the village, Gora
Ndoye.
Beyond these, some of the women said their project has been successful
in more ways than one. For instance, it has helped reduce diseases like
cholera, dysentery and malaria to manageable levels.
It is also providing regular employment for 24 young people with a
potential to multiply. Some of the women produce key holders and small
purses from plastic waste emanating from the scheme.
According to Vore Seck of Rodale International, a Thies-based NGO
involved in environment and rural development, the community has gained
a lot from the participatory approach adopted by the project. The
success has been such that there is a long queue of people from other
communities who want to join.
Besides, we receive regular visits from women's groups in other parts of
Senegal who want to replicate what we are doing here, she said.
Observers attribute the success of the scheme to simple methods and
tools put to use by the women. This made it possible for the project to
continue after the pilot phase funded by UNDP and other donors.
For instance, common sense also dictated that they use carts and horses
for waste disposal instead of going for lorries which would cost more to
maintain.
This is where we make the difference. Men would have preferred
bulldozers and huge lorries, one relatively younger women quipped.
Asked whether the men have any role to play in all this, she cast
furtive glances about, took a deep breathe, then said: They support us.
The journalists agreed that even at a micro-level, the women of Thies
have set an example which other communities could benefit from.
This is all the more important especially when viewed in the context of
the traditional African society where the women folk are relegated to
the background even in the domains of environment work where they should
naturally excel.
In some places for instance, women are still not allowed into the
so-called sacred-grooves in traditional African societies because of
their biological constitution and maternal function which made them
unclean.
But now, environmentalists look beyond the religious function of these
grooves. They are seen more as biosphere reserves, one of the many ways
in which indigenous people preserve and protect plant and animal species
in their neighbourhood.
This method of creating protected zones in which all human activity is
forbidden has been integrated into modern environment management schemes
in which women are equally active.
Many of those who saw what is going on in Thies now wonder if the
sacred-grooves, that is, the essence of the traditional African
community, should not be handed over to women. Others think they would
perform better than men if allowed to manage national environment
projects.
In any case, the Thies project is a clear pointer on how waster
disposal, the bane of most African cities, can be turned into an
attractive and lucrative cottage industry.
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