Faecal sludge management in Niamey (Niger)

To increase access to sustainable drinking water and sanitation services in urban areas, and to contribute to Niger’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the World Bank has funded through the Water and Urban Sanitation (PEAMU) the construction of a faecal sludge treatment plant in Niamey. To this end, a situation of the current management of faecal sludge in Niamey is carried out. The purpose of this study is to make an inventory of the current management of faecal sludge in Niamey, with particular emphasis on the last two links in the sanitation chain, to highlight the existing failures in order to make proposals for better management of waste products. It was carried out as part of this work, interviews with key informants in the sector, as well as direct observations in the field. According to the results of the inventory, the sanitation sector, although having made progress in recent years, is still at an embryonic stage in Niger with a very old legislative and regulatory framework, a financing deficit, an insufficient synergy of action between the actors and also practices in the evacuation and unloading of sludge which leaves something to be desired. The improvement proposals target not only the operators, the management method but also the decision-makers through the creation of a national sanitation office which can take charge of all issues related to the sector, in particular the establishment in establishment of a master plan for sanitation, the renewal of the legislative, regulatory and institutional framework, jointly guaranteeing with the regulatory authority adequate behavior in the management of faecal sludge and at all levels of the supply sanitation chain.