Senegal

What’s the future of sanitation in Africa? The sector has been sluggish at reaching the objectives set out by the Millennium Development Goals, disappointing even the most optimistic advocates. Should all hopes go “down the drain”? Not yet, according to Ousseynou Guene, sanitation specialist for the African Water Facility (AWF). His experience working on AWF sanitation projects have allowed him to witness changes in the sector, thanks to the emergence of innovative ideas that challenge the status quo in sanitation project designs.

Efforts in Africa in the sanitation sector thoselast 30 years have not had a significant impact on the population's access rate to sanitation in urban areas, which remains at around 40% only. Many strategies are deployed in recent years by various international institutions to give another turn to the sector through the introduction of innovations in technology, sector structuring, financing and management mechanisms with the involvement of the private sector and public-private partnership.