Non sewered sanitation: AfWASA teaches good emptying practices to Burkina Faso actors

From April 24 to May 6, 2023, AfWASA organized a capacity building workshop for the faecal sludge management actors of Burkina Faso. Approximately 80 mechanical and manual emptying workers and business managers from the cities of Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou benefited from this training.

The objective was to teach them the best practices of their trade, practices that preserve their health and the environment, the maintenance of the vehicles of emptying, the security measures to be observed, the adequate equipment and the administrative and financial management of their company. The goal is the professionalization of their activity, the delivery of quality services and a better view of the population on their profession.

For Ousseini Ouédraogo, General Secretary of the Association of emptiers of Bobo, the training will change the way emptiers in Burkina Faso do business: "We have learned, among other things, that for our health and the health of the population, we must stop Indiscriminate disposal of feacal sludge. We must discharge them at the treatment plant. We also learned that during the emptying process, we must separate wastewater from fecal sludge. Finally, we

learned that our job will be appreciated by the population only if we value it and this valorisation must be started by wearing clean clothes when we present ourselves in front of a client.

He expressed the wish that all the emptiers of Burkina Faso could benefit from this training. But in the meantime, he plans a restitution to the members of his association.

This training workshop is part of a program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the EDE/TA Hub, of which the National Water and Sanitation Office is the main beneficiary. It was conducted by AfWASA in collaboration with its Regional Implementing Partner (PREMO), the Centre des Métiers de l'Eau (CEMEAU) of Burkina Faso.