Building Partnerships for Urban Waste Management in Bamako

In 1992, the municipality, small businesses involved in waste disposal, NGOs and community-based groups in Commune IV, one of Bamako’s districts, started collaborating on an urban waste management initiative. By involving people from disadvantaged areas and focusing on the cultural aspects of urban waste management, an approach to sustainable local development and improving the urban environment was developed. This successful exercise has now been institutionalised. This paper presents the approach followed, starting with an analysis of the case of Commune IV in Bamako. It goes on to outline the most important aspects of the processes, methods and tools used, and highlights some of the most important results and lessons learned. Finally, a more systematic approach to stimulate sustainable development within the context of decentralisation is then proposed, taking account of the need to provide basic social services and address issues related to natural resource management.