2025/09/11 by Kelvin Haule, Manoj Roy, Roger Pickup +1 · 1 voice
Nursing · Social Sciences · #Child Nutrition and Water Access #Urban and Rural Development Challenges #Water Governance and Infrastructure
paper · doi:10.2166/washdev.2025.028
openalex publication_date 2025/09/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/07
ABSTRACT Improving sanitation services in Sub-Saharan African cities remains a challenge. While the co-production approach is arguably the most promising, it is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Co-produced arrangements often emerge from micro-level grassroots initiatives, meso-scale experimentation producing scalable solutions, or political mandate-aligning initiatives at the macro-level. This paper examines three co-produced sanitation initiatives at these three levels in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It finds that co-produced solutions require being a ‘constructive alternative’ to existing municipal provisions to leverage porous bureaucracy, enhance political acceptance, and secure community buy-in. Scale jumping could occur top-down or bottom-up, but it takes time. The municipal government has an important role to play in the initiatives to flourish and strive to achieve scale.