Civil society participation in solid waste management

Most of the municipalities in Mozambique were created only in 1998 as part of a general decentralization process. Solid waste management was established as one of their obligations and continues to be a challenge for the young local administrations. Limited financial resources, coupled with a lack of qualified employees, generally leads to poor management of Sanitation Services. This was the case in the touristic city of Inhambane, where the local community, affected by the poor services, decided to address the problem. A community association was formed to assist the Municipality in dealing with the environmental problems caused by growth in the tourism sector. Since 2007, Inhambane has seen the benefits of a partnership that aims to achieve environmental, social and financial sustainability through a full restructuring of the current SWM system. This paper describes the way the partnership was established, the various challenges the association has faced and the positive results that have been achieved so far.