Session C: Authorities and decision makers; building capacity for sustainability

"This session is expected to highlight the role decision makers must play if sanitation is to be taken to scale in West Africa. Speakers will be expected to shed light on the likely institutional impediments to large scale implementation, with emphasis on the need for capacity building as a means of overcoming the barriers. Authorities and decision makers, notably in West Africa, wield considerable influence over their communities, hence they will play a crucial role in facilitating the participatory approach by formulating regulations and rules that will ensure the involvement of stakeholders at all stages. Hidden interest will be highlighted for the good of all".

• There IS a strong demand for more education and training; people at every level are hungry for more information.
• There is an environment which is now much more accepting of funding for capacity-development projects; it has become more mainstream and more recognized then several years ago.
• Capacity development is needed at all levels, from:
• Basic literacy for people who want to start small businesses, to
• Construction workers and civil servants, to
• Authorities (local, regional, national), to
• Researchers, to
• PhD students who will become the professors and ministers of the future.
• CD should be of both disciplinary and interdisciplinary and should address both natural sciences and social sciences; there is a need for the social-technical link (e.g. links between economy, hygiene and technology).
• REAL sustainable changes should focus on not only ‘skills’ but also changing mindsets and causing a long-lasting paradigm shift.

Challenges

• There are unclear responsibilities between different government levels;
• Sanitation careers are not high-profile or (very) attractive;
• Long-lasting changes are difficult in rapidly-changing or unstable political environments;
• Money management (e.g. sources, transfers, earmarks) are not always sufficient or clear to the people managing it.

Needs

• Local champions who are enthusiastic and willing to drive the process;
• Concrete resources like internet connections, computers, language-appropriate materials, demonstration units;
• Links to other projects so that professional networks can be developed, materials shared, duplication reduced;
• Integration of academic programs within existing framework, e.g. Masters Bachelors programs to match current global system.

CD programs should address:

• Local context, involve all stakeholders;
• Time constraints;
• Religions aspects;
• Use a variety of media like video, culturally appropriate images;
• The imputs of the "target audiences’" i.e. they should be asked to contribute and not just "learn";
• Netssaf II should follow up with the implementation and testing of the tools developed.

NETSSAF strategy for authority capacity building: results and lessons learned (only French version)

Dr. Abdoulaye Fall

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Germany

Mr. Théophile Mbakop

Municipality of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Presentation of the results in research and academic capacity building

Dr. Cecilia Sundberg

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden

MDGs in Africa: the view of the authorities and decision makers

Facilitator: Dr. Johannes Heeb

International Ecological Engineering Society (IEES), Switzerland

Participants:

Mr. Theophile Mbakop. Municipality of Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Mr. Abdoulaye Drame. MATAM, Senegal

Mr. Daouda Sanon. Municipality of Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Mr. Lambert Yapi. Maire Tiassalé, Cote d'Ivore