The Saint-Louis Communal development agency (ADC) and GRET facilitated a workshop in early June to present the final external evaluation of the Community-led total sanitation project in the Guet Ndar neighbourhood (Acting). The event brought together approximately twenty participants, in particular the project’s main financial partners – the European Union delegation to Senegal and the Seine-Normandie water agency – and representatives from the National sanitation agency of Senegal (Onas), the municipality of Saint-Louis and residents from the neighbourhood.
Following a feasibility study conducted by GRET in 2013, the Acting project was implemented for almost six years by ADC, with technical support from GRET and mobilisation of ONAS, which today operates the collective sanitation service.
The evaluation report commends the pertinence of the action and underlines good achievement of results. The connection objectives were in fact far exceeded: 22,100 people were connected to the sanitation network (compared to an objective of 13,000 at the start of the project), thanks to the deployment of substantial social engineering.
The project also innovated by proposing participative monitoring of the service’s technical and financial performance, autonomous sanitation technical solutions for non-connectible concessions and building work inside concessions for effective connection of populations.
Nevertheless, some challenges have yet to be met, such as the renovation of two pumping stations, work on which is currently being finalised. The municipality has also committed to connecting the rest of the neighbourhood and paving the main roads. GRET and ADC will continue to support these actions, which will ensure the intervention’s durability.
* The Acting project is being implemented thanks to financial support from the European Union (EU). The content of this article is the sole responsibility of GRET and does not necessarily reflect the views of the EU.
