Dar es Salaam is enhancing the city’s organic waste management practices through worker engagement and inclusive planning and implementation. The goal is to improve the quality of life of those living and working in informal settlements while creating waste-free streets.
In Dar es Salaam’s informal settlements, uncollected waste, dumping, and open waste burning have created serious health and environmental risks.
The C40 Inclusive Climate Action (ICA) Cities Fund supported the city’s efforts to build the capacity of officials in community mobilisation, identifying knowledge gaps among informal workers, and addressing these through tailored training programmes.
The city directly engaged with community stakeholders and delivered targeted training to over 100 waste workers. This supported the integration of informal waste workers into the city’s formal waste management programmes.
The project led to a 55% increase in waste collection rates, opened up new income opportunities for informal workers through better market access, improved health and safety conditions, and created new green jobs. Over 50 city staff received training, which, together with the development of a new Systematic Community Mobilisation Toolkit, has strengthened the city’s institutional capacity to support the informal waste sector and bring the project to scale.
The C40 Inclusive Climate Action (ICA) Cities Fund is designed to help cities develop and implement climate projects with equity and inclusion principles at their core. As part of the 2023-2024 programme, C40 supported six global cities to develop and deliver climate projects that are inclusive, fair and benefit all residents. Learn more about C40’s ICA Fund.
Editor’s note: this case study was originally published in June 2023; the content was updated in May 2024 to reflect the latest details about the project, which can be accessed in full here.