Africa

Faecal Management Enterprises (FaME) – Providing Sanitation Solutions through Value Chain Management of Faecal Sludge

Assignment location

Uganda, Ghana, Senegal; Africa

 

Client/Funding

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation /
EUWI - SPLASH

The prevailing sanitation condition in Sub Saharan African urban environments is characterized by dysfunctional on-site sanitation systems, poorly maintained faecal sludge collection facilities and few alternatives to disposing untreated or inadequately treated faecal sludge directly into the environment. The FaME project envisions a future where urban settlements, and particularly the urban poor, realize the public health and environmental benefits that are known to be associated with reliable and complete sanitation. FaME works on the development and implementation of reuse-oriented faecal sludge value chains, where faecal sludge is no more a disposal problem but a valuable product that provides a profit motive for its on-going collection and re-direction to safe endpoints. The overall goal of the FaME project is demonstrating innovative solutions for faecal sludge management and the entire faecal sludge value chain with the aim of dramatically improving public and environmental health in urban areas, peri-urban areas and informal settlements of Kampala (Uganda), Accra (Ghana) and Dakar (Senegal) through the provision of complete and reliable sanitation. HYDROPHIL was responsible for the work package “Financial Strategy for Faecal Sludge Reuse” including the following activities:

  • Conducting field research in Kampala, Accra and Dakar with extensive consultations of public and private stakeholders including water and sanitation agencies and authorities from governmental to municipal level, households, emptying companies and associations, treatment plant operators, (urban) farmers, financing institutions and (possible) industrial faecal sludge end users (e.g. cement industry)
  • Financial assessment of technical options of industrial end-use of dried faecal sludge (e.g. in the cement industry)
  • Profiling of existing businesses and assessment of economic and financial management practices
  • Preparation of re-use based financial model including potential relationships between end users, faecal sludge emptying and processing services, providers and households
  • Formulation of recommendations for policy responses in order to stimulate the market for faecal sludge use

Picture source: M. Bäuerl, S. Hofbauer